Kurdistan - Turkey
Integration
In July 2003, Parliament adopted a "Reintegration Law" offering reduced prison sentences to combatants belonging to the PKK/KADEK/KHK and other terrorist organizations as identified by the Government who agreed to lay down their weapons and provide information to authorities. The law offered full amnesty to those guilty of providing non-lethal support to terrorist organizations. At year's end, most of those who had applied for benefits under the law were already serving prison sentences. The Government reported that, as of 19 December 2003, 2,486 prisoners had applied for benefits under the law and 586 active militants had turned themselves in.
Citing security concerns, southeastern provincial authorities continued to deny some villagers access to their fields and high pastures for grazing, but allowed other villagers access to their lands. Voluntary and assisted resettlements were ongoing. In some cases, persons could return to their old homes. In other cases, centralized villages had been constructed. Only a fraction of the total number of evacuees had returned. The Government claimed that 94,000 persons returned to the region from June 2000 to October 2003. More than 400 villages and hamlets had reportedly been reopened with government assistance. These figures could not be independently verified.
According to human rights activists, villagers, and some southeast members of Parliament, the Government did not allow some displaced villagers to return unless they signed a document stating that they had left their homes due to PKK terrorism, rather than due to Government actions, and that they would not seek Government assistance in returning. Village guards had occupied homes abandoned by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and have attacked or intimidated IDPs attempting to return to their homes with official permission.
Foreign governments and national and international human rights organizations continued to criticize the Government's return efforts as secretive and inadequate. Francis M. Deng, the UN Special Representative for IDPs, visited the region in June 2002 and acknowledged a more open approach to returns on the part of the Government. Deng called on the Government to formulate a clear and transparent returns policy, establish focal points in the Government on IDPs, improve coordination within the Government and between the Government and the international community, and convene an international forum to develop return programs and strategies. In December 2003, government officials discussed the IDP issue with representatives of U.N. agencies and the EU.
In October 2003, an Adana court acquitted 14 members of the Migration and Humanitarian Aid Foundation (GIYAV), a Mersin-based group whose declared purpose was to provide assistance to displaced persons, on charges of aiding and abetting an illegal organization. The court transferred the cases of seven co-defendants to a Mersin court. Prosecutors continued to seek to disband GIYAV on separate charges that the organization established relationships with foreign associations without seeking the required approval of the interior and foreign ministries.
Turkey enacted cultural rights for the 12 million Kurds as part of efforts to join the European Union. The Government maintained some restrictions on religious minorities and on some forms of religious expression. At times, the Government restricted freedom of movement. The Government restricted the activities of some political parties and leaders, closed the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP), and sought to close the closely related Democratic People's Party (DEHAP). The Government continued to harass, indict, and imprison human rights monitors, journalists, and lawyers for the views they expressed in public.
There were numerous reports during 2003 of citizens of Kurdish origin being prevented from registering their newborn children with Kurdish names. In some cases, charges were filed against the parents. In August, authorities in Mersin reportedly refused to allow Ali Aksan to register his children with the names "Mihrivan", "Zozan", and "Berivan." In September, authorities in Istanbul reportedly prevented Sevket Gasgar from naming his son "Deral."
In July 2003, Parliament amended an article of the Census Law that had been used to prevent the use of Kurdish names. The amendment removed language that had prohibited the use of names contrary to the "national culture" or "customs and traditions," instead prohibiting names contrary to "moral norms" or names that "offend the public." The revised wording was intended to ease the restrictions. However, human rights advocates claimed local authorities failed to adjust their practices. In September 2003, the Interior Ministry issued a circular notifying local officials of the new regulations. However, the circular prohibited the use of letters used in Kurdish not found in Turkish. In December 2003, the Diyarbakir Province Jandarma commander asked the Diyarbakir chief prosecutor's office to provide a list of persons who had applied to change their names under the amended law. The prosecutor's office reportedly complied. The Diyarbakir Bar Association protested the request. There were numerous restrictions on free expression in Kurdish and pro-Kurdish political parties.
In May 2003, a Diyarbakir SSC acquitted a juvenile on charges of "inciting hatred and enmity." The juvenile was accused of altering the traditional pledge of allegiance in school and reciting, "Happy is he who calls himself a Kurd."
Implementing regulations for 2002 reform laws allowing broadcasts and private courses in Kurdish and other non-Turkish languages "used by Turkish citizens in their daily lives" created some bureaucratic obstacles. In July 2003, Parliament adopted reforms designed to remove these obstacles. However, no non-Turkish broadcasts or courses were established under these reforms by year's end. Local authorities in Sanliurfa, Batman, and Van provinces withheld permission to open Kurdish language courses on a number of technical issues, including a requirement that the applicants change the names of the institutions.
In July 2003, Parliament revoked Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law, which prohibited the dissemination of separatist propaganda. However, the updated laws still restricted non-violent expression, and court cases were still being brought against writers and publishers. Prosecutors in some cases based speech-related charges on laws not included in the scope of the reforms.
The Government showed some signs of greater tolerance for the use of the Kurdish language. Unlike in past years, police in most instances did not interfere during 2003 when HRA put up banners with the motto "Peace at Home, Peace in the World" in both Turkish and Kurdish, although, in December 2003, authorities in Van province did seize the banners. Also for the first time, police did not detain HRA members making statements in Kurdish on World Peace Day in September 2003. In October 2003, Kurdish singer Ciwan Haco spoke and sang in Kurdish during an appearance on a popular Istanbul-based television program.
Several actions, including police harassment, were taken against the pro-Kurdish DEHAP party. In September 2003, police detained DEHAP Chairman Tuncer Bakirhan, singer Haluk Levent, and six others in connection with a concert in Germany during a Kurdish cultural festival. Concert participants reportedly displayed KADEK-related pictures and banners. Authorities charged the detainees with separatist propaganda. The charges against the youths were later dropped, after a court ruled that they could not have understood the nature of what they were singing, it not being sung in a vernacular Kurdish intelligible to them. The charges against the leader of the group were upheld, and she remained in Germany rather than face the charges.
According to the military, 12 civilians, 19 members of the security forces, and 71 terrorists died during 2003 as a result of armed clashes. In September 2003, the PKK/KADEK announced an end to its unilateral ceasefire.
Due to the conflict with the PKK/KADEK/KHK, the Government continues to organize, arm, and pay a civil defense force of about 60,000, mostly in the southeast region. This force, known as the Village Guards, was reputed to be the least disciplined of the security forces and continued to be accused repeatedly of drug trafficking, rape, corruption, theft, and human rights abuses. Inadequate oversight and compensation contributed to this problem, and in some cases Jandarma allegedly protected Village Guards from prosecution. In addition to the Village Guards, Jandarma and police "special teams" were viewed as those most responsible for abuses. DEHAP officials claimed that security forces in July 2003 publicly displayed the bodies of two slain PKK/KADEK militants in the town of Baskale in Van Province. However, the incidence of credible allegations of serious abuses by security forces in operations against the PKK/KADEK/KHK was low.
