Wednesday, June 30, 2004
For any Americans reading, Turkey is a brutal regime that oppresses it's Kurdish population in many ways. It used to be that if they made it across the border the country shares with Iraq they were tortured and oppressed by Saddam Hussein, which was a bad thing, but if they remained in Turkey they were often treated as badly by the Turkish Government, which no-one seemed to care about. Hardly surprisingly, the US policy towards Turkey used to be silence, now Shrubya is telling the European Union they should let Turkey join. Whilst International Governments often treat Human Rights as an optional extra it's to Europe's credit that they've held fast so far. But of course, the Bush administration doesn't have any interest in human rights and didn't Turkey help out in the War Against Daddy's Enemy Terror?
"There is something that you can do to help the Kurds. While a case appealing against the EU ban on the organisation is being prepared for the European Court of Justice, Kongra-Gel is asking people to join it if they want to work for peace and justice."
MARK THOMAS, New Statesman, 21 June 2004
(Read full text of article attached and below)
*APPEAL TO JOIN KONGRA-GEL AND SHOW OPPOSITION TO THE EU TERRORISM BAN
*Writing in the New Statesman of 21 June, Mark Thomas supported the call issued by the Kurdish community in the UK and Europe for friends of the Kurds to express support for KONGRA-GEL, the People's Congress of Kurdistan, which was recently proscribed by the European Union as a terrorist organisation.
This decision is not only wrong in law, unfair and oppressive, it attacks fundamental rights of freedom of expression and association in respect of the Kurdish people who have been the subject of widespread state-induced discrimination.
A campaign has been launched to get the ban lifted with prominent people coming forward to declare their willingness to join KONGRA-GEL as associate members. Others are acting as applicants *in* a legal challenge for an appeal that will go before the European Court of Justice.
So far in the UK, Mark Thomas has been joined by Lord Rea, barrister and chair of the Green Party Hugo Charlton and the international human rights lawyer Roger Tompkins.
Tony Benn, Harold Pinter, the Scottish novelist James Kelman and the writer Jonathan Bloch are lending their support to the appeal. Meanwhile, political activist/commentator Boris Kagarlitsky from Russia has declared his support.
It is important that the widest public opposition is expressed to this ban. Were hundreds or indeed thousands of people to come forward in support of KONGRA-GEL then the ban would become unworkable.
The momentum for this initiative has gathered pace following action by a group of French activists including anti-globalisation campaigner Jose Bove.
Background
In March, the European Union decided to add KONGRA-GEL to its list of proscribed terrorist groups, after a similar move by the US in January and a decision ³to freeze assets² of the organisation that the UK took earlier in March. This dismaying news deeply shocked Kurdish community associations across Europe as well as human rights activists working with them who are all aware that it is clear from its programme, aspirations, activities and constitution, that KONGRA-GEL is far removed from what is normally termed a "terrorist organisation". The ban is especially surprising given that it is a new force in Kurdish politics with no history of violence and that it is seeking to campaign by legal means through the political process for the rights of the Kurdish people.
As Leyla Zana, the well-known Kurdish politician who was awarded the Sakharov Peace Prize, stated: "KONGRA-GEL is a democratic, peaceful, people's organisation which defends the democratic rights of Kurds, who live first of all in Turkey, but also in Iran, Syria and Iraq." She went on to point out that its political aims respect the territorial integrity of states and that it *seeks *to play a constructive political role in the democratic process inside Turkey *and* declared that it* is a "human duty to remove KONGRA-GEL from the list of terrorist organisations" to enable it to contribute towards peace in Turkey, the region and the world.
In response to the EU ban, some respected public figures and radical activists in France formally declared themselves members of KONGRA-GEL including Jose Bove, anti-globalisation campaigner and founder of the Peasants' Federation, Bernard Granjon, Honorary President of the World Physicians' Association and Jean Paul Nunez, from the human rights organisation Cimade.
*1. I want to become an associate member of KONGRA-GEL
*
.......................................................................................
*2. I support the appeal and I am willing to join KONGRA-GEL were it not designated a 'terrorist' organisation
*
.........................................................................................
*3. I associate myself as a supporter with the application to the European Court of Justice to annul the Commission¹s decision to characterise KONGRA-GEL as a 'terrorist' organisation.
*
...........................................................................................
NAME
PROFESSION
ORGANISATION (If any)
ADDRESS
............................................................................................
TEL/FAX
E-MAIL
Date
I would like to receive more material on KONGRA-GEL
*
--------------------------------------------------------------
*Please choose one of the above options 1.2.3. with YES or NO and return together with your other details to the following e-mail addresses:
justice.for.kongragel@no-log.org and estella24@tiscali.co.uk
or post to Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, 44 Ainger Road, London NW3 3AT
tel 020 7586 5892
*
New Statesman, 21 June, 2004
*
**MARK THOMAS
*
The UK is selective when it comes to judging a nation¹s human rights record. That¹s why it supports Turkey, with its vital oil interestes, against the Kurds, who have nothing.
For lovers of traditional joke forms I would like to start this column with a traditional gag. 'What's the difference between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher?' Answer; 'A couple of weeks if we're lucky.' Margaret Thatcher has always seen herself as an uber-patriot and so I feel after we lost our match to France in the Euro 2004 Championships the least she could do for her country is die. Few care about how she goes, though some poetic irony, like falling down a disused mineshaft, would be nice.
It is her send off that is of concern. If there were any justice in the world her funeral would take place in the Falklands. The military should take her coffin down to the beach, launch it into the sea and then torpedo it. Admittedly, she hasn't publicly requested such a funeral, but I instinctively feel it's what she would want.
In reality, we will have a huge state funeral with the press lionising her as a great leader, and just as they have with Reagan, airbrushing out the awkward facts: Reagan¹s administration trained and armed the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan, the Contra's in Nicaragua and sold arms to America's public enemy number one, Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. From our side of the Atlantic, Thatcher's administration armed Saddam Hussein and Augusto Pinochet and oversaw a shot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland.
It is no surprise that George Bush and Tony Blair admire their predecessors so much, they have continued the policy of selectively judging others' human rights abuses selectively, while ignoring their own. In this 'war against terror' there is only one rule, the terrorists are the ones you can't do business with.
Both Bush and Blair support the most undemocratic regimes so long as they are 'business-friendly'. From Colombia to Indonesia, from Saudi Arabia to China, the US and UK have armed and assisted torturers and murderers. No more so than Turkey, which has consistently used British supplied weapons against the Kurds to deadly effect. Sound familiar anyone? Britain has helped kill so many Kurds that you¹d be forgiven for thinking that Blair probably regards it as a 'country sport' and, once fox hunting is banned, might even allow it here.
In 1994 Layla Zana the democratically elected MP for the pro-Kurdish DEP, was charged for the crime of wearing a headband of the Kurdish colours (red, yellow and green) and taking part of her oath of allegiance in Parliament in Kurdish. For this, she was sentenced to 15 years in prison. An offence and punishment that not even the illegitimate offspring of Blunkett and Saddam could dream.
In 1995, after years of allowing arms sales to the regime, Europe awarded Layla Zana the Sakharov Peace Prize, given to people imprisoned in the cause of peace. It is an odd sort of honour because, to win it, you really do have to be totally up shit creek.
In 2001, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Layla had not received a fair trial and recommended he release.
On 9 June 2004 , Turkey decided to free her and then had the audacity to suggest that this was a milestone in Turkey's reform process.
The repression of the Kurds continues and once again, it is happening with Britain and America's help.
Kongra-Gel (The Kurdistan People's Congress) was formed in 2002, to work democratically and non-violently for the rights of all Kurdish people. On 24 March 2004 Gordon Brown, in a press statement primarily relating to Hamas, announced that the UK would freeze Kongra-Gel¹s assets, as it was a terrorist organisation. When Brown made his decision, had Kongra-Gel committed any terrorist acts? No. Was Kongra-Gel consistently calling for democratic reforms? Yes.
Labour decided to label this organisation as terrorist for two simple reasons. First, the Bush administration has done it. Second, Turkey, which is next door to the destabilised and insurgent Iraq, and has vital oil interests, is a friend - and Turkey wanted it. With Britain and now the EU declaring Kongra-Gel to be a terrorist organisation, Turkey can happily continue persecuting the Kurds under the guise of fighting terror.
However, there is something that you, dear reader, can do to help the Kurds. While a case appealing against the EU ban on the organisation is being prepared for the European Court of Justice, Kongra-Gel is asking people to join it if they want to work for peace and justice.
If you want to work for peace and justice join Kongra-Gel. By merely joining up, at no personal loss or your membership back guaranteed, you can help. How can they enforce a ban when Kongra-Gel could have more members than the Tories have? So go on, join a 'terrorist' group today.
If thousands do this, it will be extremely hard to enforce the ban, when Kongra-Gel might well have a higher membership than the Tory party. Unlike Labour, you won't get a membership card when you join, but at least Kongra-Gel will never invade Iraq.
For information on joining Kongra-Gel e-mail estella24@tiscali.co.uk
"There is something that you can do to help the Kurds. While a case appealing against the EU ban on the organisation is being prepared for the European Court of Justice, Kongra-Gel is asking people to join it if they want to work for peace and justice."
MARK THOMAS, New Statesman, 21 June 2004
(Read full text of article attached and below)
*APPEAL TO JOIN KONGRA-GEL AND SHOW OPPOSITION TO THE EU TERRORISM BAN
*Writing in the New Statesman of 21 June, Mark Thomas supported the call issued by the Kurdish community in the UK and Europe for friends of the Kurds to express support for KONGRA-GEL, the People's Congress of Kurdistan, which was recently proscribed by the European Union as a terrorist organisation.
This decision is not only wrong in law, unfair and oppressive, it attacks fundamental rights of freedom of expression and association in respect of the Kurdish people who have been the subject of widespread state-induced discrimination.
A campaign has been launched to get the ban lifted with prominent people coming forward to declare their willingness to join KONGRA-GEL as associate members. Others are acting as applicants *in* a legal challenge for an appeal that will go before the European Court of Justice.
So far in the UK, Mark Thomas has been joined by Lord Rea, barrister and chair of the Green Party Hugo Charlton and the international human rights lawyer Roger Tompkins.
Tony Benn, Harold Pinter, the Scottish novelist James Kelman and the writer Jonathan Bloch are lending their support to the appeal. Meanwhile, political activist/commentator Boris Kagarlitsky from Russia has declared his support.
It is important that the widest public opposition is expressed to this ban. Were hundreds or indeed thousands of people to come forward in support of KONGRA-GEL then the ban would become unworkable.
The momentum for this initiative has gathered pace following action by a group of French activists including anti-globalisation campaigner Jose Bove.
Background
In March, the European Union decided to add KONGRA-GEL to its list of proscribed terrorist groups, after a similar move by the US in January and a decision ³to freeze assets² of the organisation that the UK took earlier in March. This dismaying news deeply shocked Kurdish community associations across Europe as well as human rights activists working with them who are all aware that it is clear from its programme, aspirations, activities and constitution, that KONGRA-GEL is far removed from what is normally termed a "terrorist organisation". The ban is especially surprising given that it is a new force in Kurdish politics with no history of violence and that it is seeking to campaign by legal means through the political process for the rights of the Kurdish people.
As Leyla Zana, the well-known Kurdish politician who was awarded the Sakharov Peace Prize, stated: "KONGRA-GEL is a democratic, peaceful, people's organisation which defends the democratic rights of Kurds, who live first of all in Turkey, but also in Iran, Syria and Iraq." She went on to point out that its political aims respect the territorial integrity of states and that it *seeks *to play a constructive political role in the democratic process inside Turkey *and* declared that it* is a "human duty to remove KONGRA-GEL from the list of terrorist organisations" to enable it to contribute towards peace in Turkey, the region and the world.
In response to the EU ban, some respected public figures and radical activists in France formally declared themselves members of KONGRA-GEL including Jose Bove, anti-globalisation campaigner and founder of the Peasants' Federation, Bernard Granjon, Honorary President of the World Physicians' Association and Jean Paul Nunez, from the human rights organisation Cimade.
*1. I want to become an associate member of KONGRA-GEL
*
.......................................................................................
*2. I support the appeal and I am willing to join KONGRA-GEL were it not designated a 'terrorist' organisation
*
.........................................................................................
*3. I associate myself as a supporter with the application to the European Court of Justice to annul the Commission¹s decision to characterise KONGRA-GEL as a 'terrorist' organisation.
*
...........................................................................................
NAME
PROFESSION
ORGANISATION (If any)
ADDRESS
............................................................................................
TEL/FAX
Date
I would like to receive more material on KONGRA-GEL
*
--------------------------------------------------------------
*Please choose one of the above options 1.2.3. with YES or NO and return together with your other details to the following e-mail addresses:
justice.for.kongragel@no-log.org and estella24@tiscali.co.uk
or post to Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, 44 Ainger Road, London NW3 3AT
tel 020 7586 5892
*
New Statesman, 21 June, 2004
*
**MARK THOMAS
*
The UK is selective when it comes to judging a nation¹s human rights record. That¹s why it supports Turkey, with its vital oil interestes, against the Kurds, who have nothing.
For lovers of traditional joke forms I would like to start this column with a traditional gag. 'What's the difference between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher?' Answer; 'A couple of weeks if we're lucky.' Margaret Thatcher has always seen herself as an uber-patriot and so I feel after we lost our match to France in the Euro 2004 Championships the least she could do for her country is die. Few care about how she goes, though some poetic irony, like falling down a disused mineshaft, would be nice.
It is her send off that is of concern. If there were any justice in the world her funeral would take place in the Falklands. The military should take her coffin down to the beach, launch it into the sea and then torpedo it. Admittedly, she hasn't publicly requested such a funeral, but I instinctively feel it's what she would want.
In reality, we will have a huge state funeral with the press lionising her as a great leader, and just as they have with Reagan, airbrushing out the awkward facts: Reagan¹s administration trained and armed the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan, the Contra's in Nicaragua and sold arms to America's public enemy number one, Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. From our side of the Atlantic, Thatcher's administration armed Saddam Hussein and Augusto Pinochet and oversaw a shot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland.
It is no surprise that George Bush and Tony Blair admire their predecessors so much, they have continued the policy of selectively judging others' human rights abuses selectively, while ignoring their own. In this 'war against terror' there is only one rule, the terrorists are the ones you can't do business with.
Both Bush and Blair support the most undemocratic regimes so long as they are 'business-friendly'. From Colombia to Indonesia, from Saudi Arabia to China, the US and UK have armed and assisted torturers and murderers. No more so than Turkey, which has consistently used British supplied weapons against the Kurds to deadly effect. Sound familiar anyone? Britain has helped kill so many Kurds that you¹d be forgiven for thinking that Blair probably regards it as a 'country sport' and, once fox hunting is banned, might even allow it here.
In 1994 Layla Zana the democratically elected MP for the pro-Kurdish DEP, was charged for the crime of wearing a headband of the Kurdish colours (red, yellow and green) and taking part of her oath of allegiance in Parliament in Kurdish. For this, she was sentenced to 15 years in prison. An offence and punishment that not even the illegitimate offspring of Blunkett and Saddam could dream.
In 1995, after years of allowing arms sales to the regime, Europe awarded Layla Zana the Sakharov Peace Prize, given to people imprisoned in the cause of peace. It is an odd sort of honour because, to win it, you really do have to be totally up shit creek.
In 2001, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Layla had not received a fair trial and recommended he release.
On 9 June 2004 , Turkey decided to free her and then had the audacity to suggest that this was a milestone in Turkey's reform process.
The repression of the Kurds continues and once again, it is happening with Britain and America's help.
Kongra-Gel (The Kurdistan People's Congress) was formed in 2002, to work democratically and non-violently for the rights of all Kurdish people. On 24 March 2004 Gordon Brown, in a press statement primarily relating to Hamas, announced that the UK would freeze Kongra-Gel¹s assets, as it was a terrorist organisation. When Brown made his decision, had Kongra-Gel committed any terrorist acts? No. Was Kongra-Gel consistently calling for democratic reforms? Yes.
Labour decided to label this organisation as terrorist for two simple reasons. First, the Bush administration has done it. Second, Turkey, which is next door to the destabilised and insurgent Iraq, and has vital oil interests, is a friend - and Turkey wanted it. With Britain and now the EU declaring Kongra-Gel to be a terrorist organisation, Turkey can happily continue persecuting the Kurds under the guise of fighting terror.
However, there is something that you, dear reader, can do to help the Kurds. While a case appealing against the EU ban on the organisation is being prepared for the European Court of Justice, Kongra-Gel is asking people to join it if they want to work for peace and justice.
If you want to work for peace and justice join Kongra-Gel. By merely joining up, at no personal loss or your membership back guaranteed, you can help. How can they enforce a ban when Kongra-Gel could have more members than the Tories have? So go on, join a 'terrorist' group today.
If thousands do this, it will be extremely hard to enforce the ban, when Kongra-Gel might well have a higher membership than the Tory party. Unlike Labour, you won't get a membership card when you join, but at least Kongra-Gel will never invade Iraq.
For information on joining Kongra-Gel e-mail estella24@tiscali.co.uk
