Human rights and the Kurdish issue in Turkey: 1984-1999

Human Rights Review

Volumn 3, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 45-54

  Bozarslan, Hamit ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 28244479598     PISSN: 15248879     EISSN: 18746306     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s12142-001-1005-7     Document Type: Article

References (40)

1. Over the years hundreds of reports commissioned by international, Turkish or Kurdish human rights organizations, members of the Turkish Parliament and independent researchers offered extensive data on these violations. Given time and space constraints, I could not conduct a systematic survey of those reports. Most of them can be found at the library of the Paris Kurdish Institute (http://www.institutkurde.org)
2. Turkish Daily News, 31.05.2000.
3. See, among others, O. Resulan, Sirnak Baskini, G&lemler-Yorumlar-Raporlar, Istanbul, Nfibuhar, 1992.
4. See CILDEKT, Point sur la Turquie, n 2000 (http://www.institutkurde.org).
5. See H. Bozarslan, " Candidature de la Turquie l'Union europ6enne, "to be published in Politique dtrangre (2001)
6. This does not mean that the human rights issue is not an ethical issue and that it should not be defended as such, whatever the political and social constraints of a society or of a given period might be. While adopting this normative point of view as a citizen, as a researcher my task is to understand both human rights as an issue and human rights violations as a part of broader, and to some extent, cynical, political discourse and praxis.
7. See, among many other testimonies, G. Aslan, Uniformali Kasaplar, Istanbul, Pencere Yayinlari, 1990.
8. O. Lainer, KiArt Sorunu. Heniiz Vakit Varken, Istanbul, BirikimYayinlari, 1991,.p. 48
9. P. Robins, Turkey and the Middle East, NewYork, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1991.p. 33. 9. Turkish Probe, 13 July 1993.
10. Already in the 1970s, Turkish counter-guerrilla documents accepted the a series of human rights violations, including "plundering, massacres and rape, " as legitimate means of"psychological wars. " See AydinlikYayinlari, Resmi Belgelerle Kontrgerilla ve MHP I. Kitap: CIA" nin Tidrkiye'deki Kontrgerilla Teorisi ve Uygulamasi, Istanbul, Aydinlik Yayinlari, 1978, namely p. 45.
11. Amnesty International, Turquie: quelle sdcurit? Paris, Amnesty International, 1996.
12. Social and political fragmentation played a decisive role during the period of political violence (1975-1980) which led to 1980 military coup (See H. Bozarslan, "Le ph6nom6ne milicien: une composante de la violence politique en Turquie des ann6es 70, " Turcica, n 31, 1999, pp. 185-244). It was also a decisive factor in the political instability of the 1990s.
13. See N. Matar, Mehmedin Kitabi. Giineydogu'da Savasmis Askerler Anlatiyor, Istanbul, Metis, 1999 (Matar's book has been forbidden in Turkey).
14. See official testimonies before a Parliamentarian commission, edited byV. Ozdemir, TBMM Susurluk Arastirma Komisyonu Ifade Tutanaklari, Istanbul, SCALAYayincilik, 1997 and V. Ozdemir, TBMM Tutanaklari. Susurluk Belgeleri, TBMM Komisyon Raporu'na Muhalefet Serhleri ile Birlikte, Istanbul, SCALAYayincilik, 1997.
15. See H. Bozarslan, Network-Building, Ethnicity and Violence in Turkey, Abu Dhabi, ECSSR, 1999.
16. See H. Bozarslan, Network-Building, Ethnicity and Violence in Turkey, Abu Dhabi, ECSSR, 1999.
17. S. Demirel, Turkish president (1993-2000) justified this"tolerance. " According to him, in order to safeguard its survival, the State could"depart from ordinary routine"whenever it was required. See A. Insel, "Rutininde I F Dfisman Olan Devlet', Birikim, n 131, pp. 3-10.
18. See F. Bulut, M. Faraq, Kod Adi Hizbullah. Tiirkiye Hizbullahi'nin Anatomisi, Istanbul, OzanYayincilik, 1999, H. Çiçek Hangi Hizbullah L Istanbul, Kaynak yayinlari, 2000.
19. See interview with M. Baksi, in M. Baksi, Her Kus Kendi Sürüsiyle Uçar, Anlati, Istanbul, Aram Yayinlari, pp. 128-147.
20. See F. Ibrahim, H. Wedel (eds.), Probleme des Zivilgesellschaft in Vorderen Orient, preface de F. Büttner, Opladen, Leske + Budrich, 1995
21. See U. Cizre, Muktedirlerin Siyaseti, Merkez Sag, Ordu, Islâmcilik, Istanbul, iletişim, 1999.
22. J.C. Randal, After Such Knowledge What Forgiveness? My Encounters with Kurdistan, New York, Farrar, Srauss and Giroux, 1997, p. 259. See also Amnesty International.
23. See, among many non-official propaganda books: M. S. Denker, Uluslararasi Terör, Türkiye ve PKK, Istanbul, BogaziçiYayinlari, 1997.
24. 2000'e Doǧru, 27.8.89.
25. M. A. Kislali, Güneydoǧu. Düşük Yoǧunluklu Çatisma, Ankara, ÜmitYayincilik, 1996.
26. "If you are a Kurd and the state decides to kill you, you have no chance of survival, even if you are more of a patriot then any body else. "Officer H. Oguz's testimony, inV. Özdemir, Susurluk, op. cit. p. 125. See also his accounts about the ways in which extrajudiciary executions were carried out.
27. The press played a decisive role in the definition of"internal enemies. " See B. Ayaz, Türk Basini Türkiye'de insan Haklan ve Kürt Sorunu Örneǧinde. İstanbul, Belge Yayinlari, 1997, and documents and testimonies issued by independent journalists in dorduncukuvvetmedya. com. tr
28. SeeT. Bora, Milliyetçiliǧin Kara Bahari, Istanbul, Birikim, 1995.
29. See S. Bucak, Human rights in Kurdistan, Bremen, Initiative for Human rights in Kurdistan, 1990.
30. See among other, Desolated and Profaned: A Report by Lord Avebury, Chairman of the Human rights Group, and Mr. Michael Feeneu, Adviser for His Eminence Cardinal Hume on Refugee Affairs, on their Mission to the Kurdish Region ofTurkey, September 3.10.8.1992.
31. For some of those violations, See Amnesty International.
32. See A. Öcalan's interview with M. Baksi, in M. Baksi.
33. "A democratic person is the person who beheads [enemies] whenever the people's democracy is under attack. Democracy means the use of people's revolutionary terror whenever the people are under attack. We call the high point of this terror "revolution. " Could one say that there is no democracy because violence is deployed? We should be criticized because we deploy too little terror and not because we deploy too much terror. "A. Öcalan's interview with D. Perinçek, 2000'e Dogru, 22.11.1989.
34. M. van Bruinessen, "Nationalisme kurde et ethnicités intra-kurdes, " Peuples Mêditerranéens, n° 68-69, 1994, pp. 11-38.
35. Özgür Gündem, 24.6.1993.
36. See interview with M. Baksi.
37. See, for the biographies of some of them, the PKK's official organ, Serxwebun, September 1992 and August 1993.
38. According to an official party document, for instance, the authors of assassination of Lamia Baksi, a Kurdish physician who joined the PKK in the 1980s, "drowned, one after the other, in Lamia's blood/'Comments of Ali Aktas (PKK), on the assassination of Lamia Baksi in M. Baksi, pp. 87-94.
39. See C. Kutschera, "Revelations sur le système Öcalan, " Confluences Méditerrannée, n° 34, 2000, pp. 113-118.
40. A. Öcalan, Savunmalar. Özgürlük Kazanacak. Kürt Sorununda Demokrasi ve Baris Manifestosu, Istanbul, Mem Yayinlari, 1999.