Rights Activists Criticize PM on Kurds

"Turkey have serious problems in the frame of minority rights and Kurds are the mostly effected by those problems" said Husnu Ondul, former chair of Human Rights Association (IHD).

PM Erdogan responded to a question on rights of Kurds by journalists making reference to the rights of Turkish Cypriots during his visit to New York, saying "They have the same rights as any other ethnic group living on Turkish soil. There are more than Kurdish citizens in the parliament".

"Ethnical, regional, religious chauvinism must stop. We do this in Turkey, if it realizes also in Cyprus, problems would cease there too".

"PM is confused"

"He acknowledges the Kurdish problem when he goes to Diyarbakir and he forgets all about it in New York. He must resolve this contradiction first" said Pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) vice chair Hasip Kaplan.

He noted that the Kurdish problem went onto international stage with the Iraq's occupation and added that "maybe Erdogan doesn't have a problem but the world does. 20 million Kurds face gigantic problems in cultural, economical and political domains. It's political myopia not to see this fact".

Problems on several domains

Husnu Ondul puts the accent on cultural rights and political representation. He argues that there is a fear in Turkish society and establishment towards recognizing minority rights amounting to paranoia.

Ondul once again emphasized that human rights problems are universal but Kurds face distinct and more frequent violations. He summarized the areas of problem as follows:

* Language and related rights: Language is the most important aspect of being a distinct community. Kurds have problems protecting and developing their language. There are no academic studies nor practical institutions on Kurdish language.

* State's ignorance: As equal citizens, Kurds are pushed out of constitutional protection. Public sources are devoted only to the Turkish culture, all 26 other different ethnic groups lack public support that's under constitutional protection. On the contrary, people that try to work on those subjects are punished: Ismail Besikci is an example.

* Life under constant state of emergency: Especially in southeastern Turkey, -where the Kurdish population is concentrated- people lived most of the 80 years of the Republic under state of emergency. Military pressure is pervasive and ever-lasting.

* Political representation: Everybody knows that the 10 percent electoral barrier aims at keeping the Kurds out of the parliament. DTP's, HADEP's votes go to the bin while people get elected by 2 thousand votes.

EU Report

Some quotes on the issue included in the the European Comission's 2006 Progress Report on Turkey are as follows:

"As regards cultural rights, permission was granted to two local TV channels in Diyarbakır and to one radio in Şanlıurfa to broadcast in Kurdish. However, time restrictions apply, with the exception of films and music programmes. All broadcasts, except songs, must be subtitled or translated in Turkish, which makes live broadcasts technically cumbersome. Educational programmes teaching the Kurdish language are not allowed. The Turkish Public Television (TRT) has continued broadcasting in five languages including Kurdish. However, the duration and scope of TRT's national broadcasts in five languages is very limited. No private broadcaster at national level has applied for broadcasting in languages other than Turkish since the enactment of the 2004 legislation.

Children whose mother tongue is not Turkish cannot learn their mother tongue in the Turkish public schooling system. Such education can only be made by private education institutions. As concerns Kurdish all such courses were closed down in 2004. Therefore, there are no possibilities to learn Kurdish today in the public or private schooling system. Furthermore, there are no measures taken to facilitate access to public services for those who do not speak Turkish. As reported above, according to the Law on Political Parties, the use of languages other than Turkish is illegal in political life.

The court case against the Rights and Freedoms Party (HAK-PAR) regarding a speech in Kurdish continues. As regards the situation in the East and Southeast, progress has been made with regard to the compensation of losses resulting from terrorist acts. The ECtHR ruled that the compensation law allowed for the provision of adequate redress for persons who were denied access to their possessions in their place of residence.

The situation in the South-East has deteriorated since the resumption of violence by the PKK, which is on the EU list of terrorist organisations. During the period between November 2005 and June 2006, there were 774 terrorist attacks reported, which led to 44 military, 5 police and 13 civilian casualties. In the aftermath of the funerals of some PKK terrorists at the end of March, riots took place in Diyarbakir and spread to other cities in the region. Demonstrators attacked the police, civilian residents and shops. Ten civilians were killed during clashes with the police and security forces, including three children. Many civilians suffered bullet wounds.

There are widespread reports of excessive and arbitrary use of force by the security forces, even against ambulances. Investigations are ongoing to determine the causes of these deaths. The violence triggered by the March riots had a negative impact on the human rights situation. Over 700 people were detained and cases of ill treatment were reported. A number of security measures have been reinstated as a response to the escalation of terrorism, such as roadblocks and checkpoints in some provinces of the Southeast. On the legislative side, amendments to the anti-terror law were adopted in June 2006

The November 2005 Şemdinli bombing, which killed one person and injured others, also had a negative impact on the situation in the region. A court in Van imposed heavy prison sanctions on two gendarmerie officers and a former PKK member reported to work as a gendarmerie informer who were found responsible for the bombing. A Parliamentary Committee was established in November 2005 to investigate the Şemdinli events. The Committee has not published its report.

The overall socio-economic situation in the Southeast remains difficult and there is no comprehensive plan to address this issue. The positive statement of Prime Minister Erdogan in 2005 stressing the need to resolve through democratic means what he called "the Kurdish issue" was not followed up. There is almost no dialogue between the authorities and locally elected politicians. Furthermore, many locally elected politicians face court cases. Moreover, the 10% threshold under the electoral law makes it difficult for all but the nationwide largest parties to be represented in Parliament.

In spite of the ECtHR ruling in the Icyer vs.Turkey case of January 2006, the implementation of the Law on Compensation of Losses Resulting from Terrorist Acts raises several concerns. Overall, there seems to be divergences in the methods used by the compensation commissions. They have large discretionary powers and procedures are often cumbersome.

As a result, the payment of the amounts due is slow. There are concerns about the level of compensation. Furthermore, the conditions attached to the eligibility for compensation could leave a large number of potential beneficiaries outside the scope of the Law. There is also a heavy burden of proof on applicants to provide documentation, including property titles, which in many cases have never existed."(TK/EÜ)