urds fight back against British deportations On Sunday 15th October over 5000 people marched through Hackney protesting against the effective murder of Kurdish refugee Siho lyiguven by the British state. On Saturday 28th October, more than 3000 people marched from Hackney to the South Bank carring Siho's body.
Siho was 26 years old, a Kurdish political refugee who came to Britain, leaving behind his wife and child, and hoping to be re-united with them in the future. After holding him in detention, the Home Office decided to deport him. He had been tortured in Turkey, and the authorities cynically ignored his statement that only his dead body would return to Turkey. He and his friend Dogan Arolan decided to commit suicide by setting themselves alight rather than be tortured and murdered in Turkey. Dogan is now in hospital fighting for his life.
Over 3000 Kurdish refugees have come to Britain since May 1989, and have been subjected to barbaric treatment here. Some of them have been interviewed on the plane and sent straight back, others have been harassed and beaten up by racist police and immigra tion officers. Supporters of the Turkish government have been used as interpreters in immigration interviews. Kurdish detainees have risen in resistance to this inhuman trealment; taking part in a series of hunger strikes and sit-down protests in prisons and detention centres. Some have tried to commit suicide rather than be sent back.
The first response of the Thatcher government to the influx of Kurdish refugees was to introduce a visa restriction for Turkish citizens. Hundreds of refugees were locked up as if they were criminals. Home Secretary Douglas Hurd decreed that as the Kurds were "economic" not "political' refugees then they should be deported. In doing this, he was not only ignoring the statements of the refugees but also reports by the Medical Foundation for the care of torture victims and Amnesty International.
Kurdistan is the homeland of 20 million Kurds, divided between Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Around 10 million Kurds live in the Turkish area which is the least developed part of the Turkish state.
In North Kurdistan, the Turkish state has stationed a huge military force but does not provide state services. A feudal mode of production exists in this area and the Turkish Page 32
FEATURE state has good rela- the tions with landlords. Not only has there been agrarian reform but Turkish troops have ensured the survival of extreme exploita- tion. The existence of a Kurdish minority has never been officially recognised and the right to a separate cultural identity is denied. It is criminal offence to speak Kurdish: it can- not be taught ins schools, spoken it public or reproduced in print. Prisoners at Diyarbakir Military prison, after the 1981 coup, were forbidden The funeral of Siho lyiguven to speak to their visit- ing families in Kurdish even though they knew no other language, until a hunger strike in 1988 won them that right. Many popular uprisings in Northem Kur- distan have been brutally suppressed. After the Durrim uprising in 1938, during which many were massacred, the majority of the sur- viving population were forcibly resettled all over Anatolia. As a result of this and migration to the in- dustrial centres, today the Kurdish population lives in all parts of Turkey. In the cities, Kurds are at the bottom of the social ladder. They live in the slums and ghettoes, which are fre- quently bulldozed by the authorities and lack even the most basic services. Almost daily there are reports of clashes between security forces and the Kurdish people resisting the destruction of their homes which usually result in victory for the security forces. In the 1970s, when the general level of political activity in Turkey was high, many Kurds became involved in socialist struggle as members of trade unions, socialist parties and revolutionary organisations. Some cultural as- sociations and illegal Kurdish political parties and organisation were formed fighting for self-determination for the Kurds and for civil rights. In September 1980, Turkey's military leaders seized power under General Kenan
Evren. Tens of thousands of men and women were taken into custody immediately after the coup. Trade unionists were arrested en masse. Amnesty International estimates that over a quarter of a million have been arrested in Turkey since 1980 on political grounds, and almost all of them have been tortured. More than 30,000 were jailed in the first four months after the coup. Some 700 political prisoners are now under sentence of death. 50 people have been executed.
Another General, Turgut Sunalp, claimed that 'It is only human nature to torture people* and added "There was torture in Turkey, there is torture in Turkey, and there will be torture in Turkey'. The results of the coup were even worse in North Kurdistan. Diyarbakir prison became one of the most infamous centres of mass torture.
Kurdish political prisoners have suffered additional repression because of their nationality along with the 'normal" ill-treatment which is applied to all political prisoners. Some were tortured to death, others faced firing squads without being tried. Political prisoners have been fighting against unfair trials, continuous torture and ill treatment, by taking part in hunger strikes and riots in prisons ever since. Diyarbakir prison along with many others is one of the centres of this heroic resistance. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 20, Dec-Jan 1989-90
In August 1984 the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) launched an armed struggle against the Turkish troops. Since the the security forces have been engaged in counter-insurgency operations. In fact their operations involve harassment and intimidation of civilians; every Kurdish village has been raided by the troops and houses searched. They beat up the inhabitants, claiming that they help Kurdish guerillas or may do because they are Kurds'. The government has attempted to arm members of particular tribes and villages in order to create a anti-PKK paramilitary force called "Village Protectors". People who refuse to get involved are tortured and killed.
A Turkish weekly review recently claimed that 100 people who had supposedly died in armed conflict with the military had in fact faced firing squads following torture. Turkish newspaper Milliyet estimates that over 9500 Kurdish people were detained between August 1984 and July 1987 in the south eastem provinces. There are no clear records of the results of this persecution since there is a strict media ban on news covering East Anatolia; sometimes opposition MPs uncover corpses in the area but details cannot be published.
It has been openly admitted that the security forces intend to use chemical weapons in SE Anatolia, in the same way as the genocidal attack by the Iragi government in Halabja. As a consequence thousands of Kurds are being forced to leave the area.
On September 17 1989, six young people SOCIALIST OUTLOOK ILP hits back!
Anyone hoping to understand developments in the anti-poll tax movement would do well to take Theresa Conway's confused and contradictory report in SO (12 February 1989) with a large dose of salt.
She accused the ILP of being a "pernicious" right wing influence which wants to impose undemocratic structures on the movement. She claimed that we wish to exclude trade unionists and the hard left from the campaign. She asserted that the ILP wants to tum the national federation of anti-poll tax groups into something "grandiose and bureaucratic. Nothing could be further from the truth.
All she has demonstrated by these bizarre and unsubstantiated remarks is that she does not begin to understand the political arguments of those who she is so keen to SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 20, Dec-Jan 1989-90
LETTERS were killed by the military - Official reports claimed that they were PKK guerillas. Almost the whole population of the area rose up to demand the punishment of the murderers. The protest was brutally put down; but it was a fuming point, as the first mass response to the massacres. On the other hand, it is possible that the uprising was provoked to justify fo ture use of chemical weapons.
All this proves that any Kurd should qualify as a political refugee. Even to claim one's national identity as a Kurd is political, given that it is punishable under the Turkish Penal Code. Most Kurdish refugees or their close relatives are political activists, and were thus subjected to torture in Turkey.
An Amnesty Interational report refers to a Kurdish socialist, Mehmet Kalkan, who was taken to Diyarbakir police station in June 1987. His girl friend, who was there as a relative, said after her release 'Mehmet and I were both suspended in the air. They asked whether he knew me or not. They asked this several times. After repeatedly getting the same answer they demanded that Mehmet rape me. He refused to do so, but 2 torturers did what they had not been able to make him do. They raped me. Mehmet could not bear their laughter and swore at them. They forced him to drink urine. In the meantime they took me out of the room.
From my cell I could hear his voice. Later the voice fell silent. On the same day they told me that Mehmet Kalkan had not come here in order to go out as a human being but that he denounce. So instead of comradely disagreements we get sectarian abuse.
The fact that SO could publish such an article suggests that on this occasion at least the political quality and integrity of its approach leave something to be desired.
On one point Theresa is correct. The ILP did think that the Newcastle conference, which she helped to organise and is so keen to
Not only was it a section of the left debating with itself, which was unfortunate, but tragically it was a left acting as though a mass anti-poll tax movement already existed.
Wide-ranging were adopted which few were particularly happy about (including Theresa herself, to which few people if any felt committed and which therefore carried no authority even with those groups who voted for them. Whatever happened to the steering committee which was elected to enact this programme?
Our interventions were designed to save the credibility of the event which we had been instrumental at the Chesterfield conference in bringing about. We sought to ensure that we had effective unity round the need for a mass demonstration to bring an effective campaign into being. Had the left channelled its efforts into pressing the Labour Party and the TUC for such an event then we could have done some-
preferred to die like a dog.*
The death of Mchmet Kalkan during interrogation in Diyarbakir police station was officially declared a suicide.
We do not expect the British government to care about the repression of the Kurdish people in Turkey since it is guilty of the same crimes in Ireland. But we have a right to expect the govemment to uphold international conventions on refugees. We do not expect it to condemn the Turkish government for its fascist brutality against Kurds, but we will not accept the British government's treatment of
We are well aware of Thatcher's support for the repressive Turkish regime for the sake of contract opportunities for British capital. We know that the US, British, and other imperialist powers of NATO would not break relations with a regime that is a useful watchdog in the Middle East. However, this has started to bear bitter fruits within the British state: Siho preferred to commit suicide rather than be delivered into the hands of the Turkish butchers. If the Home Office continues to treat Kurdish refugees as criminals and deport them, we will consider the Tory government directly involved in the Turkish government's genocidal policies.
Siho is only one; thousands of "Sihos" have been systematically tortured and killed in the mountains of Kurdistan solely because they are part of a nation in revolt.
Shain Gengiz thing tangible.
Our argument has been that we need to construct a mass, broad based movement and our experience of campaigning tells us that this has not yet happened in spite of the ef forts of many committed activists. out of that broad movement we could then build an autonomous civil disobedience campaign which would provide the sharp edge of the struggle.
Can I suggest that Theresa at least tries to understand the ILP's political arguments on the poll tax before she attacks them?
Perhaps she could review our current literature on the poll tax for SO? Of course she may well continue to disagree with us. But at least then there is a chance that we may have something substantial to debate, instead of the hot air that she appears to think passes for argument.
Gary Kent, for the ILP.
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Jail threat faces leading anti-zionist Drop the charges against Michel Warshawsky! Michel Warshawsky, well-known Israeli activist and director of the Alternative Information Centre (AIC) in Jerusalem, was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment (10 suspended) on 7 November in Jerusalem. His crime? - Providing services for a forbidden organisation', because he typeset a booklet for a West Bank Palestinian organisation and refused to supply the names of those who gave the booklet to the AIC. The booklet, written by former Palestinian political prisoners, explained the interrogation methods of the Israeli intelligence services. The prosecution claimed it was written by and for members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The AIC was fined £3,500 and also faces legal costs of £10,000. Michel's sentence came after he spent nearly two years waiting for the case to be heard. In February 1987 the (AIC) was raided by police and security and closed for six months. Michel, its director, was imprisoned for one month then released on bail and banned from working in the AIC. Twenty charges were brought against Michel and the AIC under the 1945 Emergency Defence Regulations and the 1948 Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, under three main categories: providing typesetting services to illegal organisations',
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holding printed material belonging to il- legal organisations' and 'support for a ter- rorist organisation The trial was political, an attack by the Is- raeli state on cooperation between Pales- tinians and Israelis, and on democratic rights and freedom of expression. The sentence meted out to Michel was ex- tremely severe given that only one charge was upheld by the court. The AIC has sent out a warning: We have to wake up in time. All of us in the Israeli peace movement are now in the same boat. Due to the widespread support and publicity, Michel's prison sentence has been postponed until his appeal comes up in January. There is no guarantee, however, that the appeal will be success- Special rates for regular individual subscribers: 1 year's subscription (ten issues) for £7.50 (inland); £10 (Europe); £15 (outside Europe)
•...and this is the offensive weapon!" ful. Pressure must be kept up to ensure that the state's attack on Palestinian-Israeli cooperation in the struggle against the occupation does not succeed. Donations can be sent to: Alternative Information Centre, First International Bank, 015 Shlomzion Branch, Nr. 105183598. Please send messages of support to: Michel Warshawsky, AIC, PO Box 24278, Jerusalem, Israel. Please send letters of protest to: Dan Meridor, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice, Salah el Din 29, East Jerusalem, via Israel. For more information: Committee for the Freedom of Expression of Palestinians and Israelis, BM 9585, London WCN 3XX. Tel: 01-226 7050.