EREN KESKIN TO SPEAK IN MINNEAPOLIS

"I believe that the ideology of the perpatrators of the Armenian Genocide, the Committee of Union and Progress, and its special organization Teskilat-i Mahsusa, are the “founding ideology” of the Turkish Republic."
~ Eren Keskin.

For those of you in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, there will be a free conference on the Armenian Genocide this Friday, 5 February 2010, at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. It will run all day, from 0900 in the morning until 1700 in the evening.

There's more information at The Armenian Reporter.

Among the speakers will be Eren Keskin, who I have written about previously and it would be a great treat to be able to hear her speak.

Word is also that the Turkish embassy and the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund (TALDF) will have representatives present at the conference. Rastî readers will remember that the TALDF represented Jean Schmidt in the Krikorian case, for which Sibel Edmonds was deposed last summer.

If you can go, please go and show your support for a legitimate and open discussion of the Armenian Genocide, to support the Armenian community in the face of the Turkish government and its lobbyist watchdogs, and to hear Eren Keskin. Then let me know how everything went by posting something in comments.


UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to visa issues, Comrade Eren will be unable to attend the conference at the University of St. Thomas in person but she will participate by video link. If you're wondering what Comrade Eren will have to say, please check out her current column at The Armenian Weekly:

Yes, in Turkey, all together, the genocide committed against the Armenian nation has been “swept under the carpet.”

Everybody has a share in that. And everybody is guilty.

Those who don’t explicitly say “genocide,” those who are still ambivalent, who remain silent, who are afraid, I want to remind you of the words of Dr. Nazim in a secret meeting of the CUP in the beginning of 1915: “…Armenians are like a deadly wound. This wound is first thought to be harmless. But if it is not treated by a doctor in time, it definitely kills. We must act immediately. If we act as in 1909, it will do more harm than good. It will awaken the other groups we have decided to eliminate, the Arabs and the Kurds, and the danger will become threefold…”

Apparently the TALDF has exchanged "words" with the law school and were rebuffed by the school (Bravo for UST!), so now TALDF claims that it will bring protestors. If you're in the area and you have a Kurdish flag (or a picture of Önder Apo), take it along and wave it at the TALDF.

SERKEFTIN!

IHD: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS ON THE INCREASE

"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral."
~ Paulo Freire.

I have received a press statement from a comrade in the Diyarbakır Branch of the Human Righs Association (IHD). This statement is dated 9 July 2009, however I think it's appropriate to post it now, since Interior Minister Beşir Atalay has proclaimed that the Ankara regime's Kurdish "initiative" or democratic "intitiative", or whatever the hell he's calling it these days, has been an overwhelming success.

The irony is that since the actual and overwhelming success of the DTP during the 29 March elections, repression has been on the increase, at least in the Kurdish Region of Turkey. IHD has the cases, with evidence, to support its claims:

PRESS STATEMENT

(The Kurdish question will only be solved with the prevention of human rights abuses)

09 July 2009

Esteemed members of the press,

Although we were pleased to see an even partial decrease in human rights abuses in the first three months of 2009 after leaving behind a year of debating people’s most basic human rights, our concerns were increased by a sudden explosion of abuses following the local elections on March 29th. Fourteen days after the elections, the operation launched against the Democratic Society Party (DTP – Demokratik Toplum Partisi), detetions and arrests, the cancellation of green cards (cards from a social program designed to help disadvantaged people access health services) belonging especially to DTP voters in the provinces, the detention and arrest of members of the Public Workers’ Trade Unions Confederation (KESK - Kamu Emekçileri Sendikaları Konfederasyonu), the arrest of human rights and peace activists, and the initiation of a witch hunt, so to speak, people from all sectors were gathered together. In the operation against the DTP, 945 people were detained and 414 were arrested. In a manner illegal and contrary to human rights law, after their telephone conversations were listened to, many people were arrested on the basis of very ordinary conversations, suspects and lawyers weren’t allowed to see the files concerning their cases due to a secret decision, information concerning legal cases was given to the press surreptitiously and in violation of the law, the list of offenses detained people were charged with were also handed to the press, and detained people were declared guilty before the public without even knowing what crimes they were being charged with.

Although all sectors entered a period of expectation regarding a solution to the Kurdish issue following the 29 March local elections, the spike in arrests and detentions and the increase in operations on both sides of the border served to increase our concerns. The intensification and escalation of violations after distinguished President Abdullah Gül said ‘good things will happen’ regarding the Kurdish issue prompted a debate on how ‘good things’ are perceived.

In the first six months of 2009, the question of clearing mines along the borders and inside Turkey became a current topic; however, mines continue to claim lives as the question of who will clear them becomes more contested and the road to a solution is debated. Whoever plants them and for whatever goal, mines are a crime against humanity and mined fields must be located and their perimeters marked immediately. Later, these fields must be cleared and opened for agriculture.

With the understanding that the state must act as a welfare state, the state’s use of green cards as a political tool especially during elections is a very important indicator of the state’s character. It’s known that a large majority of people don’t have social security. It’s possible that following the elections, the security forces gave the district governorships reports concerning the electorate’s political preferences and that previously-issued green cards were cancelled according to this information. The implementation of green card cancellations increased especially extremely following the March 29 local elections. Following the elections, in our districts the green cards of 122,018 people were cancelled.

In our region, applications were received from five people asserting that they had experienced discrimination on the basis of their beliefs. Our organization considers freedom of belief important and it’s one of the rights that we defend.

In our region, the topic that comes to our attention the most is violations in prisons and detention centers. In Batman prison, due to a disciplinary punishment an inmate by the name of Resul Çelik wasn’t allowed to meet with his family for three months, and for 40 days his request to be transfered to another prison wasn’t being accepted. He couldn’t escape the depression he fell into and hanged himself. This incident was a death under detention. In the prisons in the regions, treatment isn’t given to seriously ill patients, they aren’t committed to infirmatories, and requests to be transferred to hospitals aren’t accepted. No one should be surprised if there’s an explosion in the near future as a result of the conditions and repression in the prisons.

Violations in prisons have continued to increase and become more severe. From the prisons, 33 people applied to us concerning violations of their right to health, 253 people applied concerning the obstruction of their right of communication, and 193 arrestees and inmates applied complaining of having received gratuitous and unjustified punishments, and all of these assertions were proven. 73 families applied to us because their meetings with imprisoned relatives had been obstructed due to disciplinary actions. 44 arrestees and inmates applied to our branch asserting that they had been tortured.

Regarding the heavy intervention by security forces into activities in our region such as Newroz over the last six months, camera images showing the butt of a police officer’s gun hitting the head of a small child show the degree of disproportionality prevailing at this stage. In 47 rallies and public meetings interfered in by the security forces, 501 people were detained.

Regarding the statement in the European Union’s latest progress report on Turkish accession that there is no freedom of thought in our country, how can we express that there are not positive developments in this area. It’s necessary to understand that our country can’t move forward with a democratization characterized by very timid and heavy steps and that in this sense Turkey won’t be able to join the European Union for a long time. In six months in our region 546 new lawsuits were opened against people because of ideas they expressed. 324 people received various punishments due to ideas expressed before the first six months of 2009.

In the first six months of the year, a total of 73 homes were raided. It was claimed in received applications that those in the raided houses had been subjected to indecent and severe interference. Finally, everyone was shocked by an application we received in which it was claimed that when security forces entered a house in the Ofis district of Diyarbakır on the account of a resident’s political activities, a woman was subjected to sexual violence and harassment. The chief public prosecutor’s office has opened a legal investigation and the Diyarbakır regional governorship an administrative one about this event.

In the first six months, 21 people were proven to or applied to our branch claiming to have been exposed to torture and maltreatment in detention units in our region. Compared to the past, torture and maltreatment in detention centers has decreased but the practice has been carried to the street. Now, in front of cameras, mobile squads and other security forces have been using disproportionate force against social activities in a way that has been resulting in heavy injuries. In six months 109 people applied to our branch claiming to have been exposed to torture and maltreatment outside of formal detention centers.

With the goal of abolishing the village guard system, for ten years the Human Rights Association has prepared statements and reports concerning very serious violations perpetrated by village guards. Most recently, the massacre in Bilge village in Mardin province shows once again just how correct our discourse is. The result of the state’s security perspective approach to the Kurdish problem is always death and tears. In the first six months of 2009, 49 people were killed 8 were injured as a result of violations of the right to life carried out by village guards. It was established that village guards were involved in 33 incidents of torture and maltreatment.

Finally, the number of occurences involving people being kidnapped and suggested to become spies has experienced an increase. In the first six months, 7 people applied to our branch asserting that they had been kidnapped and threatened into becoming a spy.

In our region, intervention is often brought upon demonstrations organized by civil society organizations and political parties; upon one person’s slogan or throwing of a stone, gas and teargas are used against all particpants. Heavy interference is personally confirmed by leaders from our branch who act as observers in the activities they participate in. In the first six months of 2009, 215 people were beaten and injured as a result of police intervention into public demonstrations.

Esteemed members of the press,

We can say that almost all of the violations in our region that come to our attention are directly related to the Kurdish problem. The lack of a solution to the Kurdish question is the reason for our country’s inability to democratize or join the European Union as well as the reason our economy is so sunken. A big part of the problem would be overcome with the acceptance of the Kurds’ existence, language and culture and the construction of a new civil and democratic constitution. The sit-down protests we initiated with the goal of putting the fate of disappeared people on the public agenda and trying the perpetrators has entered its 23rd week. The disappeared people that our branch has tried to locate with our own resources exposes the fact that the mistakes the state made in the past were not insignificant. We think that all the graves of the disappeared will be revealed only with the existence of a strong political will. We request that the state come face to face with the past, apologize to the loved ones of the disappeared, apprehend the perpetrators, that the political killings of Kurds be included in the Ergenekon investigation, and that the trial take place on the northern side of the Euphrates river. A truth commission including intellectuals, legal experts, non-governmental organizations, public institutions, judges and prosecutors needs to be established and its work begun immediately.

With the goal of ending the ending the disproportionate violence applied to actions and activities, we’re prepared to deliver human rights education through our branches found in 16 provinces to the security forces that serve in our region. We also recommend that the the security forces be given education in anger management.

Everyone has a role to play in resolving the Kurdish issue, guns must continue to be silent, and we want to keep the doors to dialogue open until the end. We hope that the PKK’s ceasefire will be extended beyond July 15th, and we hope the state also puts an end to operations and behaves with common sense by taking urgent steps with the goal of stopping the flow of blood. We don’t want to see deaths or severe violations any longer. We’re hoping to present a violation-free balance table in the first six months of next year.

With our respect,

Muharrem ERBEY, Attorney at Law

Vice President of the Human Rights Association, President of the Diyarbakır branch

When will we hear Sayın Atalay address these charges? Inquiring minds want to know.

Many thanks to the comrade who sent the information. And let me add that those who have worked in the IHD have been true heroes of the Kurdish struggle in Turkey, as much so as have our guerrillas. Among the many who have served the Kurdish people in this way, we can include Osman Baydemir, Akın Birdal, and Eren Keskin. There is a short history of the IHD at IHD's website, which includes a list of IHD leaders and members who were murdered because of their work.

Serkeftin!

THE BLACK FIFTEENTH: PHOTOS

"Photography to me is catching a moment which is passing, and which is true."
~ Jacques-Henri Lartigue.

Here's a selection of photos from protests against the international conspiracy that led to Öcalan's capture ten years ago. One photo comes from the AP and the rest from Özgür Gündem (more here) and Fırat News (more here: http://www.firatnews.com/gallery/index.php?rupel=mal ).

This is an AP photo (Murad Sezer), seized from Yahoo News, of Kurdish youth in İstanbul. The caption also described them as throwing "missiles" at a police armored vehicle. I don't know . . . they look more like bricks than missiles to me.

The Kurdish capital, Amed (Diyarbakır)

Amed, in front of the mayor's office.

Amed.

Amed.

Amed.

Cizîr (Cizre)

Cizîr.

Êlih (Batman).

Êlih.

İzmir.

İzmir.

Qendîl.

Qendîl.

Farqîn (Silvan).

Farqîn.

Wan (Van).

Strasbourg.

Strasbourg.

Strasbourg.

Strasbourg.

Strasbourg.

According to Özgür Gündem, 394 people, including women and children, were taken into custody during the weekend protests and 70 people, including police, were injured.

In Êlih, 80 people were taken into custody (including 40 children) and dozens were injured.

In Şirnex (Şırnak) and its district, 49 people were detained and four arrested. A 16-year-old in Hezex (İdil) lost an eye due to a police tear gas cannister (the left eye, while the boy was working in the garden of his family's house). Four police and more than eight people were injured.

In Mêrdîn (Mardin) district, 69 people were taken into custody. Six police were injured as were more than eight other people.

In Amed, 38 people, including children, were taken into custody. Three police and 23 other people were injured.

In Sêrt (Siirt), 12 people were taken into custody and more than 10 people were injured, including police.

In Mersîn (Mersin) district, 17 people were taken into custody and one woman was injured.

In Adana district, 35 people were taken into custody.

In Wan, 20 people were taken into custody and six people, including three children, are still in detention. Three people were hurt during the protests.

In Colemêrg (Hakkari), seven people were taken into custody and 17 people were injured, including nine police.

In Gewer (Yüksekova), 23 people were taken into custody, with 11 released. Twelve people remain in custody. Two children were injured during the protests.

İstanbul saw ongoing demonstrations for two days. 44 people were taken into custody and 38 people released. Six people remain in custody and one person was injured.

From the Not-To-Be-Missed Department: Hevallo has a video post of the ever-courageous Eren Keskin and her work in defense of, not only Kurdish, but all women of Turkey. Trust me; if it's Eren Keskin, it's going to be great.

NEWS FROM THE "MODEL OF DEMOCRACY"

"Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses."
~ H.L. Mencken.

There has been an identification of two bodies from a mass grave of Kurds extra-judicially murdered by Turkey's Bolu commandos in the Kulp district, from Yeni Özgür Politika:

The identities of two of the eight people who had been taken by Bolu Brigade from their homes under the pretext of showing them an address, and then returning them, have been revealed. These people were Hasan Örhan and his brother, Mehmet Selim Örhan. In 1994, during a Bolu Command Brigade operation, these eight people were raided and their bodies were burned. Recent DNA results revealed the identity of the two, out of eight. IHD Diyarbakir branch held a press conference in order to declare the results of the DNA test.

As the deputy chief of IHD, Reyhan Yalçındağ, gave a brief background of the incident: "14 years ago, on 24 May 1994, the soldiers who held an operation in Diyarbakır Kulp district, Çağlayan village, Deveboyu region, detained Mehmet Selim Örhan, Hasan Örhan, and Cezair Örhan. Despite their family members' resistance, who are today among us, a high-ranking soldier mentioned that he would take them in order to show them an address and then he would release them. However, no one heard from them since."

According to Yalçındağ, regional departments and prosecutors conclude that there are approximately 5,000 similar cases. Since IHD could not find any resolution for these cases because of [Turkey's] internal law, it has applied to the European Court of Human Rights. Regarding these issues, ECHR found Turkey guilty.

In 2004, the Örhan family found eight unidentified bodies. After the DNA testing of these bodies, it became clear that two of these bodies were Hasan and Mehmet Selim Örhan.

IHD revealed the results of the DNA tests in a press conference at which the Örhan family was present without knowing the results. When the results were announced, indicating that the bones of Hasan and Mehmet Selim Örhan were found, many family members suffered breakdowns. Thus, IHD had to cut short the press conference.

So there we have yet another example of why the Bolus are particularly hated in Kurdistan and why the TSK should be brought before an international tribunal on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Human Rights Association (TIHV) suffered a highly suspicious robbery on 24 March:

Thieves who broke into the TIHV center stole 18-years worth of archives of torture victims. Without touching anything else in the center, the thieves escaped.

Even though there is an alarm system in every room, some unidentified people stole the server which contained torture and human rights violations reports. Without stealing anything else, valuable or without value, it was revealed that the thieves had attempted to commit this robbery three days' prior--an attempt that failed.

TIHV General Secretary Metin Bakkalci said it was no coincidence that the server was stolen. Metin Bakkalci says: "Despite the security precautions, three days' after the first attempt, they succeeded in getting into the building. Here, there were applications regarding human rights violations and some related information dating from 1990." He indicated that the archive that was stolen was Turkey's human rights violations and torture "memory".

Thus, the thieves stole Turkey's human rights violations and torture reports "memory".

The biggest question here is who were the thieves working for? The Kemalist Deep State or the Islamist Deep State? Both would benefit by wiping out the records of Turkey's dirty history.

In some good news, it looks like Russia is shutting down Fethullah Gülen:

Russian constitutional court banned Fethullah Gülen's "Nurcu cemaat" and their activities as the court considered them an "illegal Islamic movement". According to BBC news, the case that has been brought by the chief prosecutor, resulted in the banning Fethullah Gülen's activities in Russia. According to the Russians, the Nurcu houses turn into illegal madrassas that teach an extreme religious ideology. In additon, many Gulen schools, mainly in St. Petersburg, have been considered illegal also by this court, by saying their activities are illegal.

A check of BBC English and BBC Türkçe revealed no report as quoted here. However, the news has been fairly prominent in Turkish media, such as this example from Hürriyet. According to Hürriyet, the Russians had previously closed down Gülen schools. Were the Fethullahcı attempting to bypass the previous Russian ban by referring to themselves as Nurcular? This would not be unusual since Gülen, the bawling village idiot, stole the writings of Seîd Kurdî (aka Said Nursi by Kurd-haters) to sucker people into his cult.

It's too bad the Americans won't follow in Russia's footsteps and ban the wildly out-of-control Fethullahcı in the US. Perhaps the Russians really banned the Fethullahcı because the US is using them as a fifth column against Russia, just as it did with the mujaheddin in Afghanistan in the 1980's. And we all know how well that turned out.

Please note that Amnesty International (AI) has issued a statement about Cüneyt Ertuş. Also available in German, if you're so inclined.

AI also has something on Eren Keskin's recent conviction:

Human rights activist Eren Keskin has been sentenced to six months and 20 days in prison after being convicted of “denigrating the Turkish army”.

The conviction comes under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which Amnesty International has long campaigned against.

Eren Keskin's sentence can be converted into a fine of 4,000 Turkish Liras (US$3,250) but she has refused to pay it. Instead, she is appealing the verdict. Should she be imprisoned, Amnesty International would consider her to be a prisoner of conscience.

Okay, so how does one actually "denigrate the Turkish army"? I mean, they do that well enough on their own. Fittingly enough, Eren Keskin has a page at Heroes for a Better World. If you need to know more about Eren--and you probably do--check this.

Finally, the word has gotten around that Leyla Zana has been convicted for her remarks at Newroz last year. Some feckless articles have claimed in headlines that she's been jailed already, but do not mention jailing at all in their text. So far I have not seen anything at all in Turkish-language media that says Zana has been imprisoned or jailed yet, so I am not certain about it. The question is whether an appeal is filed automatically and whether or not she remains free pending the results of an appeal. I will continue to watch for further news on this issue.

What I have noticed, however, is that the Turkish media has been unusually silent over Zana's conviction. Would this have anything to do with the fact that her conviction was announced on the same day that those two great defenders of democracy, Olli Rehn and Manuel Barroso, arrived in Turkey? Barroso even went to the TBMM to bleat about political and social "reforms", and went so far as to praise efforts to "reform" the excruciatingly vague new version of the excruciatingly vague old version of Article 301.

At this point, I suspect that Zana will once again be sacrificed on the altar of "democracy".

Since I have mentioned two courageous Kurdish women in this post, let me also point out that a new website is in the works that will focus on Kurdish women. You can take a look at Kurdistan's Women.