International Initiative
Freedom for Ocalan – Peace in Kurdistan
P.O. Box 100511, D-50445 Koeln
E-Mail: info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
Url: www.freedom-for-ocalan.com

Cologne, 13 May 2002

Press Statement:

Reason Has Failed

In December 2001, as a consequence of the attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, the European Union has set up a list of terrorist organisations, which is to be updated half-yearly. On 3 May 2002 the European Union has included the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on this list which had not been the case before.

What were the reasons? What had changed since December 2001?

For more than two years the Kurdistan Workers Party has adhered strictly to a unilateral ceasefire. It has withdrawn its fighters from Turkey. It could not be provoked. It remained on peace course. A few weeks ago it even dissolved officially as an organisation. In its place the Congress for Liberty and Democracy in Kurdistan (KADEK) was founded as a platform, which allows all organisations and individuals to participate in a democratic struggle for the rights of the Kurds as a people. Obviously, the reasons for the EU-decision do not lie in the behaviour of the former Kurdistan Workers Party. The reasons are political.

The international coalition against terror led by the US needs Turkey as an Islamic ally and Turkey on the other hand wants the support of the European Union and its NATO partners in fighting Kurdish efforts towards emancipation, and wants these to be included in the international anti-terror fight after September 11. Turkey now leads the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan and could become even more important as anti-terror measures against Iraq come into focus within a few months time. The EU has paid tribute to these considerations and has once again yielded to American pressure. At the same time it has given way to a demand which had been clamoured by Turkey for many years. The EU candidate country Turkey on the other hand is about to disqualify itself as such irrevocably by this behaviour. Those, who refuse any dialogue, who want to put demands for cultural and native language rights on the agenda of the international anti-terror coalition will not find a place in the EU nor in any other community. They are not capable of living in the same house with others who are differently minded.

Thus the EU decision proves an unreasonable act, even worse so: While constantly intervening verbally, politically and increasingly also militarily all over the world in the name of democracy and human rights, the EU will be regarded as untrustworthy, if it brushes off ignorantly the efforts of a movement, which for more than two years has campaigned for a peaceful settlement of the Kurdish question and which during this time has also made distinctive progress on its path towards internal democratisation. At the same time the EU decision in retrospective legitimates15 years of suppression of the Kurdish movement by the Turkish regime. It justifies 15 years of village destruction, 15 years of displacement and dispossession, 15 years of lawlessness. And it justifies 15 years of terror by the state against a Kurdish national identity. The pro-Kurdish party HADEP already threatened by closing-down for a long time because of alleged support of the PKK thus comes into firing range of the "anti-terror fighters". In this sense the EU decision is disturbing, since all its calls for a peaceful solution of conflicts, its demands for adhering to human rights and democratic rules are reduced to bare lip-service.

The former Kurdistan Workers Party does not belong on this list. The European Union once again exploits the Kurds. This decision is wrong and does not serve the peace in the region.

It must be revoked!