International Initiative
Freedom for Ocalan Peace in Kurdistan
P.O. Box 100511, D-50445 Koeln
E-Mail: info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
Url: www.freedom-for-ocalan.com
Cologne, 12 February 2004
INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE BRIEFINGS:
The Ocalan Case: 5 Years Of Solitary Confinement
- Litmus Test For A Democratic Solution Of The Kurdish Question
February 15 is a black day for a major part of the Kurds. It was
exactly this day five years ago that the Kurdish leader Abdullah
Ocalan was abducted from Kenya to Turkey in a cloak-and-dagger operation.
For a short time it seemed that the Turkish-Kurdish conflict might
escalate. Even the protagonists of this clandestine operation were
surprised by the massive world-wide Kurdish protests. All this happened
after an odyssey between Damascus, Moscow, Athens, Rome and Amsterdam
that lasted for weeks marking the criminal end of an illegal act
of piracy which had involved CIA, MIT and Mossad - the miserable
failure of an ominous European legal culture.
February 15th, 1999 was also the day that a new chapter was opened
on the Turkish-Kurdish conflict. Any hopes that the Kurdish rebellion
might collapse after this sudden decapitation soon proved mistaken.
While an escalation still seemed imminent Abdullah Ocalan did something
that until then nobody had believed to be possible. In spite of
the death sentence that was already looming ahead of him he put
forth his hand and offered peace calling on the Kurdish rebels to
end the bloody war unilaterally. At the same time he demanded a
radical democratisation of Turkey and that the Kurds right
to their own culture and language must be recognised. It was this
peace offer that opened the European door for Turkey and eventually
resulted in its official EU candidacy. However, there is an indispensable
precondition for the beginning of accession negotiations: the complete
implementation of the Copenhagen criteria. And this
exactly is the crux that represents the entire Turkish dilemma.
The year 2004 will point the way ahead for both Turks and Kurds.
The Turks will receive a decision in September whether and when
accession talks with the EU will be opened; the Kurds will learn
whether the recent reforms that till today seem rather cosmetic
will result in a real solution. Although Turkey has enacted a number
of laws giving the Kurds some rights the Kurdish question itself
remains unsolved yet. Mere trust in the effectiveness of the Copenhagen
criteria in terms of a possible democratisation process has proved
insufficient so far. The human rights situation is still unsatisfactory
to say the least. Torture is still systematic and endemic. Oppression
of the opposition is still the order of the day. The reform laws
have not yet arrived in reality. A major obstacle in this process
is formed by the anti-Kurdish resentments of the Turkish political
elite. They see all Kurdish efforts towards emancipation
whether in North-Iraq, Syria, Iran or Turkey - as an attack on Turkeys
national unity. Only if Turkey understands that a diversity of cultures
and languages does not pose a threat but can also be welcomed as
an enrichment only then the reform laws will come alive. Until today
the Turkish politicians and the Turkish military have confined themselves
to avoiding what they thought the most horrible scenario: the official
international recognition of the Kurds. Thy are even ready to make
major concessions in the Cyprus issue. However, any such policy
misses the essence of a true problem solving approach. It only increases
the complexity of the issue. A real democratisation of the region
is hardly possible with this approach and will remain mere fiction
anyway without a solution to the Kurdish question.
In this context the argument about the inhumane solitary confinement
of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan is coming to a head and becomes
particularly important. It is five years now that he is imprisoned
on the Turkish prison island of Imrali. His health is seriously
affected which is why he demands to be transferred into another
prison. He also demands to be examined by an international team
of independent doctors. The European Councils Committee for
the Prevention of Torture also demands that the solitary confinement
must be ended. Turkey, however, refuses to comply with these demands.
This behaviour might suggest that the death sentence he had been
given in 1999 is now to be executed in instalments since the capital
punishment has officially been abolished meanwhile. The Kurds will
not tolerate this. They understand Ocalans treatment as a
litmus test for the Kurdish question, for a democratic solution
within the boundaries of the countries which Kurdistan is a part
of. A large part of the Kurds still sees Ocalan as a warrant for
peace.
In fact, the past five years have shown that he still has an important
initial function in the struggle for a peaceful solution of the
conflict. It is safe to assume that a solution of the Kurdish question
in Turkey will be closely connected to the future fate of the Kurdish
leader.
This is why the international community and the international public
must assume a more active part. Turkey must put an end to Ocalans
solitary confinement. Even if demands for Abdullah Ocalans
release do not appear to be realistic today and may only become
so in the course of a real solution of the Kurdish question
common political sense says that they must be upheld.
|