13.03.2008 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds (compiled by Abubekir Saydam after dissolution of IMK) ("Informationsdienst, 19. Februar 2008 – 13. Maerz 2008, Nr. 01/2008") [ID 22684]

Document(s): Open document

10.05.2007 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Legislators approve constitutional amendment that would make it more difficult for Kurdish politicians to enter parliament ("Turkey Passes Amendment Seen As Curbing Kurdish Votes") [ID 19894]

Document(s): Open document

13.04.2007 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Top general calls for military operations against Kurdish rebels hiding in Northern Iraq ("Turkish General Threatens To Attack Kurdish Rebels In Iraq") [ID 19662]

Document(s): Open document

06.02.2007 - Source: Guardian

Current developments in Kurdish questions (PKK in Northern Iraq; worries over independent Kurdish state; impacts of Kirkuk referendum) ("Mark Tran: Turkey looks to US for support in Kurdish conflict") [ID 19680]

Document(s): Open document

10.10.2006 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Non-recognized minority: Kurds (history of Kurds; around 15 million Kurds in the country) ("A Minority Policy of Systematic Negation") [ID 18252]

"The Kurds are an ethno-linguistic group inhabiting a mountainous region of the northern Middle East (including northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, northeastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey), collectively referred to as “Kurdistan.” The Kurds consider themselves the descendants of the Hurrians who inhabited these mountains in the third, second, and first millenniums BCE as well as of the Indo-Europeans who flooded the area in the first millennium BCE. From the fourth century BCE until the fourth century CE, the Kurds passed under the sway of the Macedonians, the Parthians, the Sassanids, and the Romans. The last major Kurdish dynasty fell in 380 CE while smaller Kurdish principalities survived to become medieval Kurdish dynasties well into the flourishing period of the 12th century. The invasion of the Mongols followed by that of the Safavid and Ottoman empires led to waves of destruction of Kurdish settlements and deportations. The very last autonomous Kurdish principalities disappeared in 1867. It was in response to these systematic and ongoing devastations that Kurdish nationalism in Turkey was born. The Treaty of Sèvres, signed on 10 August 1921, anticipated an independent Kurdish state to cover large portions of the former Ottoman Kurdistan, yet was abandoned when France and Britain divided up Ottoman Kurdistan between Turkey, Syria and Iraq and formalized this division in the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

Today, nearly half of the Kurds live in Turkey where, numbering ca. 15 million, they represent about 20% of the country’s total population. They are predominantly found in southeastern Turkey, but there is also a prominent Kurdish population in central Anatolia, to the west of Lake Tuz and in districts like Allaca, Çiçekdaðý, Yerköy, Emirdað, Çankýrý, and Zile. Many Kurds also live in big cities such as Istanbul, Izmir, Mersin, and Adana. The Kurds speak the Kurdish language, which is comprised of two major dialects and several sub-dialects. The majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims, while a significant minority are Alevis and other Shia Muslims."

Document(s): Report
Press Release

10.10.2006 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

In 2006, police continues to intervene in many of the demonstrations and open-air meetings organized by Kurdish activists ("A Minority Policy of Systematic Negation") [ID 18275]

"Assembly in Turkey is regulated by the Law on Assemblies, Meetings, and Demonstrations, which was amended in August 2003 to decrease various restrictions on public demonstrations. Yet, in 2006, the concern remains that police continues to intervene in many of the demonstrations and open-air meetings organized by Kurdish activists, students, trade unionists, human rights groups or left-wing groups. Excessive security measures and the negative attitudes of the police toward demonstrators have led to tensions, which not unusually end up with the prosecution of activists for peaceful assembly."

Document(s): Report
Press Release

10.10.2006 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

3 Kurdish activists arrested as they prepared to walk to the border of Iraq to peacefully protest the killings of civilians by security forces and express their concern about tensions between the government and the Kurdish-led administration in northern Iraq ("A Minority Policy of Systematic Negation") [ID 18295]

"On 2 May 2006, three Kurdish activists, Ibrahim Guclu, Zeynel Ozalp, and Sedat Ogur, were arrested as they prepared to walk to the border of Iraq to peacefully protest the recent killings of civilians by security forces in southeastern Turkey and express their concern about tensions between the Turkish government and the Kurdish-led administration in northern Iraq. The men were charged under the Anti-Terror Law for “making propaganda for the PKK,” a charge that is all the more ironic in light of the fact that Guclu has repeatedly and publicly condemned violence by the PKK."

Document(s): Report
Press Release

10.10.2006 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Kurds and forced displacement (more than 378,000 Kurds displaced and more than 3,000 villages destroyed in the 1980s and 1990s) ("A Minority Policy of Systematic Negation") [ID 18456]

"In the 1980s and 1990s, more than 378,000 Kurds were displaced and more than 3,000 villages completely destroyed as Turkish security forces forcibly evacuated Kurdish rural communities on the pretext of combating the PKK insurgency. However, the Turkish security forces did not distinguish the armed militants they were pursuing from the civilian population they were supposed to be protecting, partly due to their cooperation with insurgents. A so-called village guard system was established ostensibly to protect villagers from militants. In practice, villagers were, however, faced with a frightening dilemma: they could become village guards and risk being attacked by the PKK or refuse and be forcibly evacuated from their communities.

These measures were taken under the State of Emergency Legislation, which also allowed for “temporary or permanent evacuations of villages.” This happened in a most brutal manner: Turkish security forces and the gendarmerie burned down villages, abused their inhabitants, and forced them away from their former homes. The operations were characterized by scores of “disappearances” and extrajudicial executions, torture, and other abuses.

Upon arriving in towns and cities after being evacuated from their villages, most were unable to find employment which soon hindered them from gaining access to health care and education and, in the long term, precipitated them in poverty and social exclusion."

Document(s): Report
Press Release

10.10.2006 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Kurds and forced displacement ("Return to Village and Rehabilitation Project") ("A Minority Policy of Systematic Negation") [ID 18457]

"In 1994, the Turkish government launched the “Return to Village and Rehabilitation Project” to facilitate the return of IDPs, yet, for over a decade, the project remained under-funded, abstract, slow, and arbitrary. In 2004, there were signs hat the government was beginning to realize that is policy on returns was in need of improvement and thus undertook to invigorate it. It formulated three promising initiatives, namely establishing a new government agency with special responsibility for IDPs, cooperating with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to help IDPs, and passing a law on providing compensation for the displaced (Law no. 5233 on Compensation for Damage Arising from Terror and Combatting Terror).

While the new government agency never came about, the UNDP program, however, was concretized when the UN agency launched the “Support to the Development of an IDP Program in Turkey” project at the “Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Conference” in Ankara on 23 February 2006. The conference, co-organized with the Ministry of Interior as UNDP’s main partner in the IDP project, involved more than 80 participants from the Turkish government, national and international civil society organizations and international organizations.

Despite its promising and positive contents, the Compensation Law is still not being implemented to successfully restitute the rights violated in the context of forced migration. First and foremost, shortcoming in the scope of the Compensation Law create discrimination among IDPs, for example between those who suffered damages of property as opposed to those who suffered damages on life and body of a person, pain, or suffering. Second, the law requires a discouragingly lengthy and difficult judicial process, which is in part caused by a lack of independence and composition of the assessment commissions, criteria for excluding applications, limits on acceptable forms of evidence to support claims, the lack of legal support to help people make claims, and inadequate mechanisms to appeal against decisions by the commissions.

The “Return to Village and Rehabilitation Project” also faces obstacles specifically relating to returns. For example, IDPs are often not able to return to their own villages, but resettled in a different rural area in the same region, aid is restricted to villagers, and the infrastructure is inadequate. In addition, dire economic conditions hinder returnees from regaining their livelihoods, and the village guard system still causes security threats to returnees."

Document(s): Report
Press Release

26.09.2006 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Over 50 Kurdish mayors went on trial on charges of aiding and abetting a terrorist organization for their efforts to keep a Kurdish television station on the air in Denmark ("Turkey Begins Trial Of Kurdish Mayors") [ID 17731]

Document(s): Open document

29.05.2006 - Source: Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe

Despite some reforms government lacks necessary strategy to solve Kurdish question ("Türkei; Zur aktuellen Situation – Mai 2006") [ID 19120]

"Trotz des Erlasses einiger Reformen fehlt es der Regierung an der notwendigen Strategie zur Lösung der Kurdenfrage. Die Lösung der Probleme der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung und der kulturellen Rechte in den Kurdengebieten sind bis jetzt nicht ausreichend in Angriff genommen worden. Politische Gespräche mit den Kurden im eigenen Land bleiben schwierig. Bisher ist es der legalen kurdischen Bewegung, die sich in der DTP (Demokratische-Gesellschaft-Partei) zusammengeschlossen hat, nicht gelungen, sich klar von Öcalans PKK (Kurdische Arbeiterpartei) zu distanzieren. Die DTP ihrerseits kritisiert die Regierung, weil diese bisher keinen Versuch unternommen habe, um die Probleme durch einen gesellschaftlichen Dialog zu lösen."

Document(s): Open document

10.2005 - Source: UK Home Office

Report on the status of the Kurdish minority ("Country Report - October 2005") [#40563], [ID 14151]

"6.208 As noted in the USSD 2004:

“Citizens of Kurdish origin constitute a large ethnic and linguistic group. Millions of the country’s citizens identified themselves as Kurds and spoke Kurdish. Kurds who publicly or politically asserted their Kurdish ethnic identity or publicly espoused using Kurdish in the public domain risked public censure, harassment, or prosecution.” [5c] (Section 5)

6.209 As outlined by the Council of Europe European Commission against Racism and Intolerance in its ‘Third report on Turkey - Adopted on 25 June 2004 and made public on 15 February 2005’:

“According to estimates, there are between twelve and fifteen million Kurds living in Turkey. There are no official statistics as national censuses do not take account of people’s ethnic origins. The Kurds live mainly in the South-East, although many of them have left the region as part of the drift to the towns and also because of the armed conflict that went on for several years between the authorities and the PKK.” [76] (p20)

6.210 The ECRI report also stated:

“ECRI is pleased to note that the constitutional and legislative changes in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms should help to give the Kurds greater freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of association. It notes, however, that in the case of the Kurds, such freedoms are still severely curtailed, especially in practice. ECRI notes in particular reports that Kurdish students have been arrested and/or expelled from university for having signed petitions or demonstrated in support of the teaching of Kurdish in universities…In some cases, however, persons who have expressed their Kurdish identity by peaceful means have been acquitted. ECRI hopes that the new laws will pave the way for a rapid improvement in this area. It notes that parents are now permitted by law to give their children Kurdish first names, even though a circular prohibits them from choosing names incorporating the letters Q, W or X, which exist in the Kurdish language but not in the Turkish alphabet.” [76] (p22)

6.211 The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2002 estimated that there were 13 million Kurds in Turkey. [2a] (p7) It also stated that “The great majority of the Kurdish population speaks Kurmanji, while Zaza, which is unintelligible to Kurmanji speakers, is spoken in the provinces of Tunceli, Elaziğ, Diyarbakır, Bingöl and Şanliurfa. Most of the Kurdish population is Sunni Muslim.” [2a] (p124)

6.212 The Netherlands report 2002 also observed that:

“The government in Turkey does not persecute Kurds solely because they are Kurds. This would, moreover, be incompatible with the abovementioned concept of the state, according to which a person’s ethnic origins do not matter as long as they comply with the principles of the Turkish Republic. All Turkish citizens (including the Kurds) thus also have equal access to public institutions such as health care and authorities responsible for issuing official documents.” [2a] (p126)"

Document(s): Open document

25.07.2005 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst, Nr 244-245, 24. Juni 2005 – 25. Juli 2005") [#34969], [ID 14152]

Document(s): Open document

23.06.2005 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds in Turkey ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst, Nr 242-243, 28. Mai 2005 – 23. Juni 2005") [#34850], [ID 14153]

Document(s): Open document

19.05.2005 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Return of displaced persons ("Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe, Central Asia and North America, Report 2005 (Events of 2004)") [#32120], [ID 14155]

"According to the Turkish government's various figures, at least 350,000 to 400,000 persons were displaced in the context of the activity of PKK and other armed opposition groups in the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey. Human rights groups estimated that the number of IDPs, including those who felt compelled to leave their homes to protect their safety and the children born to IDP families, to be over three million. The issue remained largely under the authority of the military-dominated National Security Council, and the government, especially security forces, considered the IDPs as a security threat. The security situation remained the major obstacle to the return of IDPs and their reintegration in a framework that would be coherent with Turkey's human rights obligations under UN, Council of Europe and OSCE arrangements.

While the government argued that nearly one third of approximately 350,000 IDPs had returned with support from government assistance schemes, local HRA activists reported that government figures were inflated. Security forces banned return to several villages, even when civilian authorities granted permission, and a large number of others were not able to return due to threats by village guards, who occupied the evacuated properties. In one case, the government evacuated village guards from an Assyrian village in Sirnak in September 2004, after some of its original residents returned from European countries. The government maintained around 60,000 village guards in the region. IDPs reported that government assistance was either inadequate or not forthcoming.

In 2004, the ECtHR found in six cases that the Turkish security forces were responsible for evicting and destroying the applicant's properties. The court also concluded that, in the context of conflict in southeastern Turkey, the domestic remedies were not adequate or effective. While the government paid compensations to victims, they remained displaced. Legislation enacted in 2004 for compensation of harm done to property in the context of the Kurdish conflict fell short of the standards set by the court."

Document(s): Open document

04.2005 - Source: UK Home Office

Release of Kurdish deputies ("Country Report - April 2005") [#31987], [ID 14154]

"[...]4.52 The Prime Ministers website (accessed August 2003) reported that in line with the fifth reform package (passed in January 2003) the Ankara State Security Court (DGM) approved the application made by four former deputies of the defunct pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP) for a retrial. The deputies (Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan) had applied to the European Court challenging their 1994 conviction for aiding and abetting members of the PKK terrorist organisation. The European Court decided that the former deputies had not been given a fair trial in the Turkish court. [36b]
4.53 On 21 April 2004 the BBC reported that the outcome of the retrial was that the four deputies had to remain in prison. [66w] An Amnesty International Press Release dated 21 April 2004 reported that “Amnesty International is shocked by the decision to prolong the imprisonment of Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan. As prisoners of conscience, they should be released immediately and without condition.” [12h] (p1)
4.54 On 7 June 2004 the BBC reported that a Turkish prosecutor had called for the 15-year jail sentence for the four Kurdish deputies to be overturned. The prosecutor stated that the conviction should be quashed because the witnesses called to give evidence in the original trial had not been called for the re-trial. [66y]
4.55 An article in The Independent on 10 June 2004 reported that on the 9 June 2004 the four Kurdish Deputies were freed from prison. The newspaper reported that “Hundreds of supporters sang, performed Kurdish folk dances, cheered and hurled flowers at the four as they left Ulcunlar prison in Ankara after an appeals court ordered their release.” [44c]
4.56 On 14 July 2004 it was reported by the BBC that a Turkish court had ordered a retrial for the four Kurdish former MPs, who were freed after a decade of imprisonment. “The court said the four did not receive a fair hearing at their original trial in 1994 when they faced charges of collaborating with Kurdish rebels…No date has yet been set for the new trial. Earlier this week, police pressed for new charges to be brought against the four for making separatist speeches at rallies in south-eastern Turkey last month.“ [66ac]
4.57 On 22 October 2004 the BBC reported that Kurdish activist Leyla Zana had announced plans to set up a new political party in Turkey, as she faces a retrial for alleged separatist links. The former MPs imprisoned with Mrs Zana were with her as she made the announcement in the Turkish capital, Ankara…After the announcement, Mrs Zana went to court for a retrial on the charges for which she was originally imprisoned - alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which waged a bloody struggle for autonomy during the 1990s.“ [66ad]
4.58 On 7 January 2005 the Anatolia news agency reported: “Former DEP deputies Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicel and Orhan Dogan, who have started up the Democratic Society Movement, together with former chairman of HADEP [People's Democracy Party] Murat Bozlak and DEHAP [Democratic People's Party] Chairman Tuncer Bakirhan, attended the first "of the movement's Istanbul programme of meetings to bring together intellectuals and NGOs as well as consult the people" at the Taksim Hill Hotel. Reading out a prepared press statement before the meeting Orhan Dogan maintained that huge changes and transformations were taking place in all aspects of life, and that Turkey was not separate from this process of change.” [30f] [...]"

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2005 - Source: UN Human Rights Council (formerly UN Commission on Human Rights)

Written statement submitted by the Federation of Associations for the Defence and Promotion of Human Rights on the human rights situation of the Kurds in Turkey ("Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world E/CN.4/2005/NGO/294") [#30382], [ID 14156]

Document(s): Open document

28.02.2005 - Source: US Department of State

Kurds who publicly or politically asserted their Kurdish identity or publicly espoused using Kurdish in the public domain risked censure, harassment, or prosecution ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2004") [#29519], [ID 14157]

"The Constitution provides a single nationality designation for all Turks and does not recognize ethnic groups as national, racial, or ethnic minorities. Citizens of Kurdish origin constituted a large ethnic and linguistic group. Millions of the country's citizens identified themselves as Kurds and spoke Kurdish. Kurds who publicly or politically asserted their Kurdish identity or publicly espoused using Kurdish in the public domain risked censure, harassment, or prosecution.

While there were some improvements during the year, the Government maintained significant restrictions on the use of Kurdish and other ethnic minority languages in radio and television broadcasts and in publications (see Section 2.a.).

During the year, the HRF recorded fewer complaints that authorities prevented parents from registering their children under traditional Kurdish names.

During the year, private Kurdish language instruction courses were opened in Istanbul and six southeastern cities (Van, Batman, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Kiziltepe, and Adana) pursuant to legislation adopted in 2002. According to observers, officials had delayed the courses by raising bureaucratic obstacles. For example, authorities in Batman required the school to expand classroom doorframes by 5 centimeters, while authorities in Sanliurfa required the school to install a fire escape for its two-story building, even though many taller buildings in the area did not have fire escapes. Kurdish rights advocates said students enrolling in the courses were required to provide extensive application documents, including police records, that were not required for other courses. They maintained that the requirements intimidated prospective applicants, who feared police were keeping records on students taking the courses."

Document(s): Open document

22.02.2005 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds in Turkey ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst, Nr 240-241, 24. Januar 2005 – 22. Februar 2005") [#30902], [ID 14158]

Document(s): Open document

15.02.2005 - Source: Council of Europe - European Commission against Racism and Intolerance

urds displaced within the country find themselves in a very difficult situation; no emergency rule in any part of Turkey since November 2002; process of returning internally displaced persons has not yet begun in earnest ("Third report on Turkey: Adopted on 25 June 2004 and made public on 15 February 2005 [CRI(2005) 5]") [#30573], [ID 14159]

"72. According to estimates, there are between twelve and fifteen million Kurds living in Turkey. There are no official statistics as national censuses do not take account of people’s ethnic origins. The Kurds live mainly in the South-East, although many of them have left the region as part of the drift to the towns and also because of the armed conflict that went on for several years between the authorities and the PKK.

73. ECRI is concerned to note that the Kurds displaced within the country by the armed conflict now find themselves in a very difficult situation. According to NGO estimates, there are a million or more such people, whereas the authorities put the figure at a few hundred thousand. They live mainly on the outskirts of cities, in particular Istanbul, in conditions of severe economic and social hardship. Even though they have been displaced, they have not received any welfare assistance to enable them to provide for their needs. Since most of them were originally farmers, they have been unable to find satisfactory employment on arriving in the towns and cities. The great majority now live in poverty and social exclusion, which in turn creates problems with health care and also access to education, as parents cannot afford to send their children to school.

74. ECRI is pleased to note that there has been no emergency rule in any part of Turkey since November 2002. Fighting has ceased in the South-East of the country so insecurity should no longer be a barrier to the return of persons displaced by the armed conflict. ECRI deplores, however, that the process of returning internally displaced persons has not yet begun in earnest and that only a very small number of people have returned to their villages or have been able to recover their property. The barriers to return are still too numerous. ECRI notes in particular that, in some cases, the administration is still refusing to allow returns for security reasons. In other cases, the administration has insisted that persons wishing to return sign papers waiving their right to compensation on the ground that the PKK was to blame for their departure and not the authorities. Another major barrier is the behaviour of the armed militia guards who were posted in the villages by the authorities. Some of these guards have now taken up residence in abandoned properties and are refusing to hand them over to the owners. ECRI is particularly concerned by reports that, in some cases, villagers seeking to recover their property have been killed by armed guards.

75. The government has introduced “village return projects” but according to various commentators, these schemes are underfunded. The lack of clear information about the procedure for applying to return has also been a factor in the schemes’ low success rate. Others point to the government’s lack of political commitment to the return of displaced persons. ECRI notes with approval that the law on the compensation of victims of terrorism and action against terrorism was adopted by the Grand National Assembly in July 2004. ECRI hopes that this law will enable all victims of the armed conflict in South-East Turkey to be compensated swiftly and fairly."

Document(s): Open document

23.01.2005 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds in Turkey ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst, Nr 238-239, 23. Dezember 2004 – 23. Januar 2004") [#30903], [ID 14160]

Document(s): Open document

20.01.2005 - Source: BBC News

Dutch appeals court ruled that a suspected Kurdish woman militant cannot be extradited to Turkey; the court bases the decision on it's opinion that she has a heightened risk of being tortured during her detention in Turkey ("Court backs Kurd extradition ban") [#28416], [ID 14161]

Document(s): Open document

10.07.2004 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds in Turkey ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst, Nr 224-225, 16. Juni 2004 – 10. Juli 2004") [#24594], [ID 14162]

Document(s): Open document

15.06.2004 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds in Turkey ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst, Nr 222-223, 21. Mai 2004 – 15. Juni 2004") [#24593], [ID 14163]

Document(s): Open document

02.06.2004 - Source: Guardian

Turkish forces detained 4 suspected Kurdish rebels allegedly intent on attacking Istanbul ("Kurds held for Istanbul bomb plot") [#23009], [ID 14164]

Document(s): Open document

20.05.2004 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds in Turkey ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst, Nr 220-221, 21. April 2004 – 20. Mai 2004") [#24591], [ID 14165]

Document(s): Open document

12.05.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Estimated 14,000 Turkish Kurds living in Mahmour refugee camp in Iraq reluctant to return home ("Turkish Kurds at Mahmour camp reluctant to return") [#22159], [ID 14166]

Document(s): Open document

13.03.2004 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds in Turkey ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst, Nr 216-217, 24. Februar 2004 – 13. März 2004") [#24589], [ID 14167]

Document(s): Open document

23.02.2004 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds in Turkey ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst, Nr 214-215, 04. Februar 2004 – 23. Februar 2004") [#24588], [ID 14168]

Document(s): Open document

03.02.2004 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds in Turkey ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst Nr. 212-213, 16. Januar 2004 – 03. Februar 2004") [#24587], [ID 14169]

Document(s): Open document

15.01.2004 - Source: Internationales Zentrum für die Menschenrechte der Kurden

Periodical press archive on the situation of Kurds in Turkey ("Menschenrechtsinformationsdienst Nr. 210-211, 17.12.2003 – 15.01.2004") [#18839], [ID 14170]

Document(s): Open document

07.11.2003 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Report focused on torture and inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in selected Osce states ("Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment") [#17377], [ID 14171]

"Women held in custody -- especially if they are of Kurdish origin -- are frequently subjected to rape and other sexual abuse. As Turkish law does not define penetration with objects other than a penis as rape, such practices are carried out with impunity. Another common practice is to strip a victim naked during interrogation, or to subject a woman to sexual violence in the presence of her husband or other family members in order to force the family member to confess."

Document(s): Open document

01.05.2003 - Source: International Federation for Human Rights

Concerns about Kurdish women more likely to be subjected to arrest and sexual assault; State Security Court opens file in case of severe sexual abuse in custody ("International Investigative Mission: Turkey: Torture, still a routine practice.") [#12386], [ID 14172]

"The FIDH is gravely concerned that Kurdish women, especially those in the southeast, and those whose beliefs are deemed unacceptable to the government or the military are more likely to be subjected to sexual violence and other forms of ill treatment particularly in the Anti-Terror branches of police headquarters.
On September 23, 2002, 21 years old Kurdish woman X.36 was arrested by police officers and taken to the Anti-terror Branch of Istanbul Police Headquarters on suspicion of being a member of an illegal organization and was detained for 4 days until September 27. X. was reported to have been forced to stand on her feet with her hands pressed to the wall, forced to do movements, beaten, forced to recite the Fatiha sura (a verse of the Coran), deprived of food and toilets, subjected to pressurized cold water, including into her vagina, forced to lie naked on the ground, seized by the hair, to have been spat into her mouth and nose, threatened with rape, stripped naked, blindfolded, her breasts squeezed, forced to take a police officer penis into her mouth, subjected to the Palestinian hanging and given electric shocks (including into the vagina). On September 27, X. was sent to the public prosecutor's office at the Istanbul State Security Court and examined by a forensic doctor (Adli Tip Hekimi). After a very detailed examination, the doctor identified some marks of torture on her back and shoulders. The victim is now held in Bakirköy Women and Children' Prison and Detention centre. She is gravely affected psychologically. A judicial prosecution against the perpetrators is being prepared by the lawyers and the trial file opened by the State Security Court is being followed by the lawyers of "Legal Aid for Women Raped or Sexually Assaulted by State Security Forces" Project in Istanbul."

Document(s): Open document

05.03.2003 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Report documenting past violations of international humanitarian law by Turkish forces (especially violations committed during Turkey’s thirteen-year conflict with the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey) ("Turkey and War in Iraq: Avoiding Past Patterns of Violation") [#11211], [ID 14173]

Document(s): Open document

15.04.2002 - Source: Council of the European Union

Netherlands delegation to CIREA: Background information on Kurds ("Note from the Netherlands delegation to CIREA: Official general report on Turkey, January 2002" Rf. 7838/02") [#7991], [ID 14176]

"Although there are no exact figures, the number of Kurds living in Turkey is estimated at some thirteen million. The Kurds originally came from the south-east of the country. The great majority of the Kurdish population speaks Kurmanci, while Zaza, which is unintelligible to Kurmanci speakers, is spoken in the provinces of Tunceli, Elazığ, Diyarbakır, Bingöl and Şanlıurfa. Most of the Kurdish population is Sunni Muslim. The remainder, namely speakers of Zaza, are Alevis. The traditional tribal and feudal social structure of the Kurdish population still remains largely intact.
In its initial regions of origin the Kurdish population is divided into tribes under the leadership of an ağa, who wields great authority over tribe members. A determining factor in the position of Kurds in Turkey is the government's concept of state and society. One of the constitutional cornerstones of the Turkish state is the principle of Atatürk's nationalism. According to this form of nationalism the term "Turk" means an individual who is part of the national community into which individuals can be integrated regardless of their ethnic background. Every citizen living inside the borders of the Republic is regarded as a Turk. This is conveyed in the proverb frequently heard in Turkey, "Ne mutlu Türkum diyene", which roughly translates as "Happy is he who says: I am a Turk", but is not actually a Turk. Being Turkish can therefore mean that a person's ethnic origins take second place. As a Turkish Member of Parliament put it: "Turkish identity is an umbrella identity".
Atatürk was generous in granting Turkish nationality to anyone who wanted it but failed to foresee a solution for those who were not prepared to relinquish their original ethnic identity for the new national concept. Since the inception of the Republic an overwhelming majority of individuals who feel first and foremost a strong affinity with the Turkish identity despite their ethnic origins have come to live side by side – even though every ethnic group in Turkey has had its individuals who have attached primary importance to their own ethnicity. The only large group which – though not in their generality – have not undergone this process are the Kurds. However, some Kurds, i.e. those who migrated to the west of Turkey in the distant or recent past, have been successfully integrated into Turkish society and have fully adopted the language, values and social order of the Republic. Nowadays Kurds are active in all spheres of social and political life and are even represented in the ranks of the Turkish nationalist MHP. Many members of parliament are also of Kurdish origin."

Document(s): Open document

15.04.2002 - Source: Council of the European Union

Netherlands delegation to CIREA: Kurds are not persecuted by the government solely because they are Kurds ("Note from the Netherlands delegation to CIREA: Official general report on Turkey, January 2002" Rf. 7838/02") [#7991], [ID 14177]

"The government in Turkey does not persecute Kurds solely because they are Kurds. This would, moreover, be incompatible with the above mentioned concept of the state, according to which a person’s ethnic origins do not matter as long as they comply with the principles of the Turkish Republic. All Turkish citizens (including the Kurds) thus also have equal access to public institutions such as health care and authorities responsible for issuing official documents. Despite the conflict between the armed forces and the PKK, which raged for years in south-eastern Turkey, there has almost never been ethnic strife between Turks and Kurds in the civilian population. An exception to this rule occurred during events in April 2001 in Susurluk in western Turkey. When rumours circulated that the murderer of an eleven-year old girl came from Diyarbakır, several thousand inhabitants took to the streets, set fire to the suspected murderer's house and chanted anti-Kurdish slogans. The mayor of the town spoke of agents provocateurs trying to stir up anti-Kurdish sentiment 1. 158 of the demonstrators were arrested, 22 of whom were remanded in custody for suspected violations of Article 312 of the Criminal Code, incitement to racial hatred.

Public and political Kurdish nationalist statements are repressed by the Turkish authorities. The Turkish government views Kurdish nationalist aspirations as a threat to the indivisibility of the unified Turkish state and as causing a rift between Turkish citizens on the grounds of ethnicity. Kurdish origins as a basis for recognition as a separate ethnic group are considered incompatible with the basic concept of the Turkish state, which allows no room for a separate Kurdish minority. Support for the Kurdish cause is also a criminal offence under Articles 125, 168, 169 and 312 of the Criminal Code or Articles 6, 7 and 8 of the Anti-Terror Law, depending on the type of support afforded. The penal provisions apply to everyone in Turkey, regardless of whether they are of Turkish or Kurdish origin."

Document(s): Open document

01.09.2001 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR: Kurds have been denied any rights as an ethnic minority ("Background Paper on Refugees and Asylum Seekers from Turkey") [#47163], [ID 14178]

"157. The Turkish Kurds, traditionally established in the mountainous south-eastern provinces of Turkey have moved from the countryside into the towns, major cities of Western Anatolia, and the major urban centres in the south-east. This process of displacement was accelerated during the 1990s as a result of the deterioration of the security situation in the south-east. The most violent form of displacement is evacuation of entire villages carried out by the Turkish armed forces to deprive Kurdish armed movements logistical support from the civilian population. State authorities claim that 350, 000 persons have been evacuated from 3,500 villages between 1984 and 1999.
US DOS states 1 million as a credible number of displaced people in 2001. With a current population of 16 million Kurds constitute the largest ethnic minority in Turkey. Kurds have been denied any rights as an ethnic minority, manifestations of ethnic identity have been brutally crushed by the Turkish authorities. Numerous violations of human rights and humanitarian law, including arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings and indiscriminate attacks have been reported against Kurds. A major source of insecurity for the civilian population has been the “village guards” system.
158. Outside south-east Turkey, Kurds do not usually suffer persecution, or even bureaucratic discrimination, provided that they do not publicly or politically assert their Kurdish ethnic identity. Kurds who currently migrate to the west of the country (including those displaced by the conflict in the south-east) bring with them their culture and village identity, often have little education (due in part to the PKK’s policy of murdering teachers) and few skills and are not prepared for urban life. Therefore, while many of the migrant Kurds in the largest cities (e.g. Ankara and Istanbul) are disadvantaged, this is normally the result of social and economic factors, not deliberate discrimination. Displaced households have found some support in cities Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir from other Kurdish migrants particularly for lodging and employment. Deprived of valid identity cards, they do not have access to social welfare. They remain exposed to threats from security forces. Discrimination against Kurds in the labour market is widespread. The conditions of return to their villages have not been fulfilled after the unilateral ceasefire of the PKK in 1999. Highly dependent on agricultural resources, they are unable to access any land to cultivate as authorities have failed to address the issue of landmines, populations, occupation of land by village guards, unequal distribution of land property."

Document(s): Open document