| Submitted by admin on Friday, October 30 2009 |
Kurdish Info 29.10.2009- We are publish the all letter: "Dear President Barack Obama,For many years your state has unlawfully included the Kurdish people’s freedom movement the PKK on the list of banned terrorist organisations. Your predecessor Mr Bush also deemed the PKK an enemy of the United States of America on a visit by Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the 5th November 2007. And finally, a statement made by your Treasury on the 30th May 2008 put the PKK on the list of organisations involved in narcotic operations. "As if this was not enough, on the 14th October of this year, in another statement made by your Treasury, Murat Karayilan, Riza Altun and myself were specifically declared as drug barons. This is an extremely unjustified, baseless and offensive statement. This is an extra judicial decision.
The PKK has never been involved in the trafficking of narcotics. The Turkish state’s effort at psychological warfare has utilised this propaganda for many years through its own media. However, everyone knows that this does not reflect the truth and purely consists of the Turkish state’s lies as part of its psychological warfare. Over the past 30 years of our struggle tens of thousands of our members have been tried for political reasons. Including Turkish courts, in no court in the world has there ever been a ruling against the PKK regarding narcotics, neither has the Turkish state ever been able to prove its ludicrous claims.
On the contrary, the US Secretary of State and many other international organisations regularly report of links between the Turkish state and drugs trafficking, including state officials directly taking part in operations. Your Secretary of State reported in 2003 that in 11 countries across the globe the heroin trade was under the control of Turkish organisations. Interpol stated that heroin trafficking in Europe was under the control of Turkish criminal gangs. Europol’s report in 2002 clearly states that Turkish organised criminal gangs remain as central actors in the trafficking of drugs in Europe. Most importantly, Federal German Prosecutor Rolf Schwalbe claimed that certain Turkish drug barons were protected by state officials and even disclosed the name of the then Prime Minister Tansu Ciller (21 January 1997, Germany DPA). The Minister at the Home Office in the United Kingdom Tom Sackville in an interview aired on Interstar TV, claimed to be in possession of evidence that pinpointed Turkish state officials and members of the police force in drug trafficking into Europe and that 80% of the drugs seized in England were brought over from Turkey. Furthermore, a report from France by the Observation of the Geopolitics of Narcotics stated that 80% of the drugs coming into Europe emanated from Turkey and that Turkish state officials were directly involved in operations. Even in the Turkish State’s official reports there are claims such as drugs being transported by military helicopters. In spite of all the above facts your accusations of the PKK and its leading members are unfounded. I am having difficulty of making any sense of this decision.
The truth is that the PKK’s ideological and political stance has always been against any substance that poisons the minds of humans. As Kurdistan’s freedom movement we would like to restate our calls once again: We would like to call on all human rights organisations, international law organisations and anyone that supports justice to scrutinise every single penny that the PKK has ever dealt with. As the PKK we are ready to disclose every single detail in our financial transactions! We openly state that rather than trafficking in drugs, if the PKK can be linked to even a gram of drugs we will bow to any punishment deemed fit. Accusations of the PKK’s links to the drug trade are downright lies. These unfounded accusations are the product of dirty political ambitions.
The individuals who are deemed “drug barons” in your report are neither traffickers nor traders. Nowhere in the world do we have personal wealth. We are the individuals who have taken up a struggle of a people whose very existence along with all its basic human rights has been denied. Especially comrades Murat and Riza have spent all their lives struggling on behalf of our people and are individuals leading exemplary lives.
I started my career as a lawyer in Siirt in 1986. I could not turn away from the suffering that my people were going through. I found myself in the struggle for human rights. I became a leading figure in the establishment for a human rights association in Siirt and consequently became the chair of the association. Due to my actions not being approved by the state I was forced out of the region by the local state representative. I took an active role in the establishment of the People’s Labour Party (HEP) in 1990 and later became a member of its central committee. I was elected as MP for Siirt in the 1990 general elections. After the closure of HEP I became a central committee member of the Democracy Party (DEP). In 1994 when DEP was closed and our diplomatic immunities were removed, I fled to Europe to escape imprisonment which many of my MP friends of the time were subjected to. I am still living in Switzerland as a refugee after being granted political asylum.
I was elected as the president of the Kurdish Parliament in Exile established in 1995. In 1999 I took part in the establishment of the Kurdistan National Congress and was elected to its presidency. During this time as a result of a strategic change by the PKK and its consequential dissolution, I took part in the establishment of the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress and subsequently the People’s Congress and was later elected to its presidency. I am still continuing my struggle as a member of the Kurdish Freedom Movement. I’ve been in political movements my whole life. For almost 20 years I have represented my people throughout the world including diplomatic efforts in the American Congress. I have never been involved in trading let alone illegal trafficking. This position of mine is not least very well known by all of your institutions.
Dear Mr. President,
By labelling the Kurdish Freedom Movement as a terrorist organisation and accusing it of trafficking narcotics, not only are you offending the Kurdish people you are also positioning the Kurdish people against you. With this stance you are upholding and approving the Turkish state’s dirty efforts at assimilating, annihilating, displacing and persecuting the Kurdish people. Especially in a climate where the democratic solution of this problem is being discussed your latest accusation is only strengthening the hand of the Turkish militarists who seek to derail a possible solution.
The Kurds are not an enemy of the US, just as they are not an enemy to anyone. The Kurds, just like any other people, want to live freely in their country. The PKK is the defender of this desire for freedom. The PKK, in its 30 year struggle has never attacked or harmed any American or American interests. This was also stated by your very own assistant to the Foreign Secretary Matthew Bryza when he stated in an interview with the press that the “PKK had never attacked an American, and that declaring the PKK as an enemy would only put Americans at risk”.
Dear Mr. President,
You know very well that the Kurdish Question is not a problem of terrorism; it is a historical problem in which the Kurdish people’s basic human rights were denied. The very existence of a people is in question.
We are not against your relations with Turkey. However, we do not want this relation to hinge on the circumstances surrounding the Kurdish people. Ideally we would like this relation to play a positive role in finding a democratic and peaceful solution of the Kurdish problem. Your meeting with Ahmet Turk on your last visit to Turkey was a positive step. Unfortunately consequently this step was followed by your latest decision to place the PKK on the narcotics list. If you side with a democratic solution to this problem you will win the hearts of the Kurdish and Turkish people. We also believe that this would best meet America’s interests in the region.
Without a solution to the Kurdish Question the region will not be able to stabilise, and the Middle East will not be able to democratise. A Turkey that has solved its Kurdish Problem will become a beacon of peace and democracy in the region and will be more prepared in adapting to the modern world.
Within this framework our expectation is that you will revise your current stance, especially regarding these offensive accusations of narcotic trafficking, and hence become a supporter and campaigner for a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish Question. With my utmost sincere regards"
