By Norm Dixon
The Turkish government has significantly stepped up repression in the country's Kurdish south-eastern provinces. Ankara is cynically taking advantage of concession's offered by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the easing of Western diplomatic pressure that has followed the European Union's (EU) acceptance of Turkey as a candidate for membership of the EU in December.
Turkish police on February 19 and 20 arrested the popular mayors of Diyarbakir, Siirt and Bingol. The three leaders belong to the legal pro-Kurdish rights People's Democratic Party (HADEP).
The mayors were among the 38 HADEP administrations swept to office in the major Kurdish cities and towns in last April's local elections. The most prominent is Feridun Celik, the mayor of Diyarbakir, the region's administrative capital, who was elected with around 63% of the vote.
The Ankara-appointed governor of the five "emergency rule" provinces in the south-east (i.e., those under martial law and occupied by tens of thousands of Turkish troops) claimed that "compelling evidence has been found that the mayors ... have attended meetings related to the PKK terrorist organisation at home and abroad, have taken orders from the PKK and helped the organisation financially". The mayors are accused of employing former PKK guerillas as municipal workers and accessing pro-PKK web sites on the internet! The leaders face prison terms of up to seven years if convicted.
More than 100 people protesting against the arrests were detained in Diyarbakir and Siirt on February 22, 23 and 24. Hundreds were beaten by riot police.
Turkey's prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, appeared to give the signal for the crackdown when he told the Aksam newspaper on February 17: "It is very wrong to use [mayoralties] as a political means to endanger the national unity".
On February 25, 18 other HADEP members were sentenced to jail for participating in demonstrations that followed the abduction of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan by Turkish commandos on February 16, 1999. Among those to be jailed for almost four years are HADEP chairperson Ahmet Turan Demir, Demir's predecessor, Murat Bozlak, and the elected mayor of the Agri.
European Union membership
On February 28, largely due to the international outcry the mayors' arrests provoked, the state security court freed the three leaders on bail pending their trial. Riot police again attacked thousands of peaceful protesters who turned out in Diyarbakir to greet the mayors. These examples show how little Ankara is prepared to compromise on its hard-line stance against Kurdish political and cultural rights.
The Turkish government in November agreed to postpone the execution of Ocalan until the European Court of Human Rights hears his appeal, which may take as long as two years. Citing that concession — and following ambiguous statements by government ministers hinting that Ankara may consider relaxing its ban on the use of the Kurdish language in schools and broadcasting — the EU agreed at its summit meeting in Helsinki on December 10 to accept Turkey as a candidate member of the EU.
With its new status in place, Turkey cynically renewed its attacks on the Kurds. On December 15, Ocalan went to trial on new charges that are likely to lead to a second death sentence. The charges are a "fall back" in the likely event that the European Court rules in Ocalan's favour. The case was adjourned. On December 19, HADEP reported that 38 members had been detained.
In January, the PKK held a special congress that formalised the party's abandonment of the goal of an independent Kurdistan, as well as ratifying the PKK's September 1 announcement that it was ending the armed struggle. Turkey's response was to unleash its latest wave of attacks on HADEP.
Turkey's clear goal, grudgingly accepted by European and US governments, is to crush the most respected and potentially militant Kurdish organisations in the hope that the Kurdish people will be demoralised and their desire for national self-determination weakened, if not extinguished.
While Ankara and the West agree on the goal, they differ on the method. The West, especially Europe, favours political cooption of the leaders of the Kurdish national movement rather than the blunt weapon of repression so close to the hearts of the Turkish military brass (the military remains the power behind the throne in Turkey).
Imperialism's agenda
Imperialism is worried that Turkey's closing off of opportunities for the Kurds to pursue their struggle peacefully within the political structures of Turkey — especially in the wake of the PKK's sweeping, one-sided conciliatory gestures — and its refusal to grant even token cultural and language rights could backfire. Rather than pacifying the Kurds, this may provoke a resurgence of the national liberation struggle under a new leadership less prepared to compromise.
In imperialism's most favoured scenario, a "moderate" HADEP would be the vehicle through which Kurdish militants would be rehabilitated and the national movement tamed.
Celik has repeatedly stated recently that HADEP no longer calls for an independent Kurdistan, is committed to the "unity of the Turkish state" and favours a "peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish struggle". In the week in which he was arrested, Celik had met with Sweden's foreign minister Anna Lindh. Lindh told reporters after the meeting that she agreed with Celik's request that Turkey permit the opening of Kurdish-language schools and radio and television broadcasts in Kurdish.
European leaders have expressed their disapproval of the crackdown on HADEP. On February 22, German foreign minister Joschka Fischer phoned Ismail Cem, Turkey's foreign minister, to ask for "information on the circumstances surrounding the detentions of the mayors", said a spokesperson.
Nicole Fontaine, president of the EU, on February 23 urged the Turkish government to release the mayors. The Council of Europe, the 41-government human rights body, on February 23 criticised Turkey for "imprisoning elected leaders" and called on Ankara to "create the conditions for normalisation" in the Kurdish region of Turkey.
While slower to react, the US politely questioned the arrests of the HADEP mayors. "[Turkey's] recent actions are deeply puzzling and deeply disturbing", commented US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, Harold Hongju Koh, on February 25. Koh, who met with some of the arrested mayors last August, added: "I was impressed by their [the mayors'] effort both to engage in peaceful dialogue about the future of the south-east, and also to grapple with the very, very considerable problems of political and economic development".
However, it is becoming clear that the West is not prepared to go beyond verbal rebukes. This was reflected in the statement of a "senior European diplomat" quoted in the February 25 Washington Post: "Naturally, we are concerned that democratically elected representatives of a legitimate political party should be arrested. But if there is genuine evidence that somehow these mayors broke the law, how can the Turkish government be blamed for taking action."
The February 25 New York Times reported that a EU spokesperson in Brussels, Jean-Christophe Filori, had said that the actions against the Kurdish politicians would not lead to a break between Turkey and west European countries.