SOLIDARITY WITH THE TAMILS

"After Sri Lanka survived English imperialism, the Tamils demanded freedom. There has been a Tamil people's continuous armed struggle for a period of almost 26 years."
~ Zübayir Aydar, KONGRA-GEL Chairman.

Zübeyir Aydar calls for solidarity with the Tamil people (Source: http://www.firatnews.info/index.php?rupel=nuce&nuceID=7619):

Kongra Gel Called for An Immediate Ceasefire in Sri Lanka

Kongra Gel chairman Zubeyir Aydar condemned the Sri Lankan state's massacre of the Tamil people and stated that Kongra Gel is with the Tamil people in their freedom struggle. Calling for a bilateral ceasefire, Aydar criticized the silence of the international community.

The Sri Lankan army has been conducting heavy operations against the Tamil people for months. For the Tamil people, the operations that have killed thousands of civilians is called an "attempted genocide". While the violent clashes are ongoing in the north of the island, during the night of Saturday to Sunday [9-10 May], according to Tamil sources more than 2,000 civilians lost their lives.

A Continuous Struggle

Kurds, too, are watching closely the massacre against the Tamil people and are conducting solidarity activites. The Kongra Gel chairman, Zubeyir Aydar, said, "After Sri Lanka survived English imperialism, the Tamils demanded freedom. There has been a Tamil people's continuous armed struggle for a period of almost 26 years."

In the north of Sri Lanka, twenty-five percent of the population consists of Tamils (5 million), Hindus, Christians, Muslims, whereas 75% is Buddhist Sinhalese (15 million) people. Tamils are a Hindu people. Tamil Eelam Freedom Tigers (LTTE), the Tamil guerrillas, are conducting an independence struggle for the Tamil people who live in the north and northeast of Sri Lanka. Since 1972, at least 70,000 people lost their lives in the clashes.

In 2002, a ceasefire was declared between Tamils and the Sri Lankan state. However, Sri Lanka, which receives support from India and the US, empowered its army and began attacks against the Tamil people after 2006. The ceasefire was abolished de facto. Sri Lanka's president broke the ceasefire in 2008 and intensified attacks.

The Tamil's Demand Is a Just Demand

Pointing out the hardliner attitude of Sri Lanka's government, Aydar said, "All the calls for peace and ceasefires from LTTE were left without any response. Almost one week ago guerrillas declared a unilateral ceasefire; the army did not acknowledge it and continued to attack."

Stressing that the Sri Lankan army is not obeying any kind of law or international laws of war, Aydar said, "Excessive force is being used, civilians are targeted, hospitals are fired on; these are war crimes. Despite the various numbers, thousands of civilians lost their lives in the last couple of months. In the clashes that took place on Saturday and Sunday, mostly civilians lost their lives. It is mentioned that the numbers exceed thousands; there is a humanitarian tragedy there. The Tamil people's freedom demand is a just demand. The demand for living freely in their own country is a just demand. The Sri Lankan government is in an unjust position. Its attitude is an imperialist approach. It wants to keep the Tamil people under pressure and imperialism."

The Imposition of Official Language
The Sri Lankan state imposed Sinhalese language as the national language in 1956. This exacerbated the Tamil peoples reaction. The imperialist attitude, the imposition of official language, and the assumption of the non-existence of the Tamil people's rights first made severe clashes in 1983, which turned into a civil war.

It Is Getting the Support of the Great States
"In the recent clashes it seems like the Sri Lankan army feels itself powerful. It seems like, in the international arena, they acquired the support of the great states. Using this advantage, it conducts a massacre in front of the world's eyes. It wants to smash a people's hope for freedom. The world is just watching," said Aydar.

The International Community Remains Silent
Criticizing the western counties' silence toward the massacre, Aydar said that some European countries' (France and England) foreign ministers went to Sri Lanka. However, their efforts did not go beyond their statements. Aydar said, "America is silent on this issue." He claimed that the international powers are encouraging Sri Lanka by putting the Tamil independence organization on their "terrorist list".

Aydar stressed that the UN's attempts are insufficient. It's calls do not go beyond the statements, like "We are worried about civilian casualties", "The guerrillas must lay down their arms". In addition, it tries to soothe the consciences by saying, "Weapons must be silenced".

Despite the statements from international human rights organizations about Sri Lanka committing war crimes and that there must be intervention immediately, the international powers do not even move. The UN data, too, reveals the massacre. According to the UN, since the beginning of this year to date, 6,500 civilians lost their lives. However, it is estimated that the real number is much higher.

An International Mechanism Must Be Established

Aydar stated that there are similar ongoing incidents in other parts of the world, and suggested the establishment of a neutral and just mechanism with a lawful foundation that has been formed. Mentioning that fifteen years ago great massacres occurred in Rwanda, that the incidents that occur in Kurdistan are before everyone's eyes, and that there was a humanitarian tragedy in Darfur. Aydar said, "There may not be any oil in Sri Lanka, there may not be any conflict of interest from international powers, however humanity is being hurt there. Humanity is put underfoot. The place to bring up such issues is the UN; however since the UN consists of nations, not peoples, it reacts based on the interests of states. For this reason, this mechanism is insufficient. The international community must improve a mechanism for such issues. This international mechanism must react immediately when a people, a minority, a belief, or any group, is subjected to torture by a state's imposition. This mechanism must be a mechanism for which a lawful foundation has been formed and protects the weak."

Kurds and Tamils Must Be in Solidarity

Saying that they support the Tamil people's freedom demand and their struggle, Aydar said, "We are in solidarity with them. Previously we have told our supporters to join the activities for solidarity with the Tamil people. We remind them once more. We want them to show solidarity with the Tamil people, to be with them, to share their griefs, and to protest the Sri Lankan army's cruel attacks."

Call for Immediate Bilateral Ceasefire

Calling on the Sri Lankan government, Aydar said, "The Sri Lankan government could not solve this problem militarily for 26 years. It cannot solve it, either. Maybe now they are more powerful than the guerrillas. They may have partial superiority against the guerrillas, but this will not solve the problem. Insisting on the current attitude will result in more casualties."

For the solution of the problem, Aydar primarily called for an immediate ceasefire. He said, "Our wish and call is like the way they have done before, to come back to the table and resolve the problem through dialog."

Here's a video of the concentration camps in which the Sri Lankan government is rounding up the Tamil people, from Britain's Channel 4. Note that having a "democratically-elected government" makes it all okay:

Nick Paton Walsh, the Channel 4 reporter at the end of the segment showing the concentration camp, and his team were expelled from Sri Lanka for this report.

Here was the reaction of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's defense secretary, to Walsh's report:

“Who is this? You rang me earlier? Is this Channel 4? You have been accusing my soldiers of raping civilians? Your visa is cancelled, you will be deported. You can report what you like about this country, but from your own country, not from here.”

He certainly sounds like he takes it seriously . . . but not seriously enough to investigate.

For more background on the LTTE, check a report by one of LTTE's first female Tigers, teaser here:

December 23 1987 was a warm, clear day, and I was hiding under a lantana bush with eight of my comrades in a village north of Jaffna. With our rifles cocked and our cyanide capsules clenched between our teeth, we awaited the soldiers who had been scouring the area for us for several hours. Our orders were to empty our magazines into them before biting into the glass capsules we called 'kuppies' that hung on a thread around our necks. As a Tamil Tiger guerrilla, there was no honour in being caught alive.

There had been 22 of us that morning – nine boys and 13 girls, aged between 15 and 26 (I was 17). Now, four of my comrades were missing, two were wounded. Ten were dead.

For the rest of the story.

Long live the Tamil people! Long live the Tigers! Long live the solidarity of oppressed peoples!

SHEDDING ILLUSIONS

"The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo."
~ Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, 1843.

A couple of very interesting incidents today, not particularly related to Kurdistan directly, but interesting. First one from the UK's Independent:

The US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, found himself face to face with the reality of Afghanistan yesterday when a suicide bomber killed up to 20 people outside the base where he was staying, including an American soldier. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said the attack had directly targeted Mr Cheney.

The Vice-President was unhurt, but the attack was a potent symbolic blow. More than five years after the overthrow of the Taliban, the US cannot prevent a suicide attack on its most heavily guarded base when its second most senior leader is inside.

By the way, as of this writing, Google News has just over 2,500 reports on this incident.

The other incident is similar, from the Boston Globe:

Rebels fired on Sri Lankan military helicopters carrying six foreign envoys Tuesday, slightly wounding the U.S. and Italian ambassadors and sending the group screaming and running for cover.

The government said it was a deliberate attack, but the rebels said they did not know diplomats were on board.

Seven Sri Lankan security personnel were also hurt, but the envoys from Canada, France, Germany and Japan escaped without injury.

"We were extremely lucky to be able to escape. I could see the grenades or something like that falling and exploding," German Ambassador Jeurgen Weerth told The Associated Press after returning to Colombo, the capital.

The Tigers regret the attack. I regret that the "diplomats" still haven't bothered to offer solutions to the problems that have caused the LTTE to have to establish itself in the first place. The best thing that could happen might be if these foreign meddlers butted out. Then perhaps a peace could be brokered within Sri Lanka similar to that finally achieved by Nepal.

But the US has "strategic interests" in Sri Lanka. "Strategic interests" always means arms sales and military training, which, in turn, means big bucks for the war industry . . . like Lockheed Martin.

It seems to me that the German ambassador is way out of touch with reality, mistaking mortars for grenades. And that's my point: I find it interesting that the people responsible for the violence in this world are now getting a slight taste of it. Does anyone think that this will be enough for these elites to willingly clear their portfolios of war industry stock or, better, to start addressing the grievances of the people on the ground so that demand for war industry product will slow to a trickle? Especially Daddy Warbucks himself--Dick Cheney?

Did Cheney bother to meet with the relatives of the Afghan civilians killed? Probably not, from AFP:

In his two-hour meeting with Karzai, Cheney pledged continued US support to Afghanistan "in providing security, reconstruction and the war on terror," a statement from the president's office said.

The US vice president left Afghanistan shortly after the meeting.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush had personally asked Cheney to make the lightning visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that there was never any question of abandoning the talks with Karzai.

"He certainly wasn't going to leave before he finished doing his business," Snow told reporters in Washington.

I guess not. Hamid Karzai had something to say about the matter, again from AFP:

Condemning the suicide attack, Karzai said that the struggle against terrorism would be more effective if it were focused on "its roots, the source" -- a likely reference to neighbouring Pakistan.

Too bad Pakistan is such a good ally of the US. How else is it allowed to get away with murder? And in that Pakistan closely resembles another country with which it enjoys a cozy relationship--Turkey.

Does anyone think that these elites will have an idea of what it was like for Kurdish villagers to get bombed by the Turkish army that these guys supported and continue to support? Or will they have a better understanding of what the daily situation for the people is like in Afghanistan, particularly when NATO forces are bombing weddings, or what it's like for many in Baghdad right now?

Does anyone think these elites will stop playing games with the lives of innocent people?

Don't bet on it. By the way, Google News only lists a little over 550 articles on the Sri Lanka incident.

And that reminds me of something I saw last week from the AP, carried on Canada's Globe and Mail:

Some 8,000 hard-line Buddhist monks and lay supporters paraded the streets of Sri Lanka's capital demanding the government scrap a ceasefire with Tamil rebels on Thursday, the fifth anniversary of its signing.

[ . . . ]

The rebels said a series of recent military operations by the Sri Lankan army had pushed back hopes of restarting peace talks.

"We expected the international community to keep the Sri Lankan state on track, but at this moment we are disappointed," rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said.

The hard-line ethnic Sinhalese monks — a powerful political force in the country urged the government to formally end the ceasefire, saying it favors the Tamil Tiger guerrillas.

"This ceasefire is a serious threat to the country's unitary status," Wakamulle Uditha Thera, a spokesman for the monks, was quoted as saying by The Island newspaper.

What the hell is that about "unitary status" of the country? Who in the hell does the spokesman for the monks sound like? So much for all that religious-sponsored BS about "peace," eh?

I mean when Buddhists start sounding like Buyukanit, then it should be obvious that it's time to shed the illusions.

In Turkish-occupied Kurdistan, it looks like a crackdown is underway against DTP, consistent with the current worldwide US and Turkish-sponsored crackdown against Kurds and in preparation for this year's elections in Turkey. Kurds under Turkish occupation are not represented in the Turkish parliament and the Ankara regime has been working overtime for the last year to make absolutely certain that DTP doesn't come close to the ridiculous 10% threshold.

On Monday, a prison sentence of a year and a half was handed to Aysel Tugluk and Ahmet Turk, leaders of the DTP, for "distributing Kurdish-language party materials praising imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan." More at Jurist. Note that a year of the sentence is for distributing materials in Kurdish language while half a year was imposed for "praising" Ocalan. Of course, the word "praising" would have to be defined here because in Turkey, simply referring to Ocalan as "Mr." Ocalan is considered "praise."

Looking at the way the sentence is divided up, it's a greater crime to use Kurdish than to "praise" Ocalan.

In related news, it looks like the wife of Amed's extremely popular mayor, Osman Baydemir, is also facing a prison sentence of two years for the crime of defending underage children, from TNA:

The wife of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party's (DTP) controversial Diyarbakir mayor faces 2 years behind bars following charges filed yesterday of interfering in the judicial process.

The Tarsus Public Prosecutor's Office, in the country's south, completed an indictment against lawyer Reyhan Yalcindag Baydemir, deputy chair of the Human Rights Association (IHD) and wife of Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, who has gained a profile with several legal challenges over allegations of links to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and several Kurdish figures.

The indictment accuses the lawyer of interfering in the judicial process through remarks defending a group of children who stood trial on charges of burning a Turkish flag during Nevruz celebrations in the southern province of Mersin two years ago.

The indictment said that lawyer Baydemir, making a press statement after a court session, told reporters that these children were not offenders but victims, adding that this was a plot in which these children were used as tools.

Another DTP mayor, Zulkuf Karatekin has to pay YTL3,000 for "helping a group of women who two years ago planted trees to mark the birthday of Abdullah Ocalan, inmate leader of the PKK." Apparently, this DTP Bad Boy allowed a municipality vehicle to be used for the tree planting.

I guess the YTL3,000 is supposed to reimburse for the gas.

In spite of all of this repression by the Ankara regime against Kurdish efforts to participate fully in the political process, the fascist Turkish state remains America's great "Model of Democracy" for the Middle East.

BIJÎ DTP Û SERKEFTIN!