Fact Book on Turkey Kurds and the PKK Terrorism
The Turkish Democracy Foundation
Compte d’auteur
It appears to be impossible to reach a definite conclusion on the number of Turkish citizens with Kurdish origin and their proportion to the whole population. The figures given by different orientalists on the subject are sometimes contradictory and they do not confirm each other.
Some of those figures can be described as follows: 1
.....
Contents
Introduction
i / What Is the Proportion of The Citizens of Kurdish Descent to The Population of Turkey?
ii / Are People of Kurdish Descent A Separate Homogenous Community?
iii / Did Kurds Ever Have Their Own State?
iv / Do Kurds Constitute A Separate Nation?
v / How Is the Situation of Citizens of Kurdish Descent in Turkey in Comparison with the Kurds of Neighboring Countries?
vi / Do People Who Consider Themselves as Kurds Constitute A Minority in Turkey?
vii / Are the Citizens of Kurdish Descent Main Victims of Human Rights Violations in Turkey?
viii / Are There Any People of Kurdish Descent Subject to Discrimination in Social, Political and Economic Life?
ix / Are the Acts of The State Directed Deliberately Against Its Citizens of Kurdish Descent?
x / To What Extent Allegations of Forcible Displacement of The People in Southeastern Turkey Are True?
xi / Is It Forbidden for Kurds In Turkey to Speak in Their Mother Tongue?
xii / Is Imprisonment of Some Former Members of Parliament of Kurdish Descent Including Leyla Zana For Their "Political Activities" An Indication of Oppression of The Kurds?
xiii / Can the Telecast of Med TV Be Regarded Within the Limits of Freedom of Expression?
xiv / Is Outside Powers' Interest in Kurds Mainly Because of Humanitarian Concerns?
xv / Do the Cross-Border Operations Indicate the Neo-Ottoman Expansionist Policy of Turkey?
xvi / Is Kurdish Problem the Outcome of The Nation-State Policy Pursued by Kemal Ataturk, The Founder and The First President of Turkey?
xvii / Will Peaceful Means for Political Demands Have an Impact on Acts of Violence?
xviii / Can the Search for A Political Solution to The Kurdish Problem Avoid Further Bloodshed?
xix / Can A Political Structure Based on The Model of a Federation Bring Solution to the Kurdish Problem?
xx / Have Turkish Governments Been Indifferent to The Social and Economic Problems of Southeastern Turkey?
xxi / What Are the Chances of Emergence of An Independent Kurdish State in The Middle East?
xxii / What Is the Ideology of the PKK?
xxiii / What Is the Goal of the PKK?
xxiv / Is the PKK A Political Party?
xxv / How Is the PKK Financed?
xxvi / Is the PKK A National Liberation Movement?
xxvii / Is the PKK Sincere in Its Call for Cease-Fire?
xxviii / How Does the PKK See Kurds With Their Individual and Social Aspects?
xxix / What Are the Effects of The PKK Activities on Southeastern Turkey's Economic and Social Life?
xxx / What Is PKK's View of Religion?
xxxi / Can the PKK Be Recognized as Belligerent Under International Law?
xxxii / Is "Kurdistan Parliament In Exile" An Independent Democratic Institution Representing The Kurds?
xxxiii / What Are the Relations Between the PKK and Other Pro-Kurdish Groups?
Xxxiv / Can PKK's Presence in Northern Iraq Contribute to A Just and Final Settlement?
xxxv / Why Is Syria So Often Accused of Sponsoring PKK Terrorism?
xxxvi / What Is the Greek Policy Towards the PKK Given Her Fundamental Differences with Turkey?
xxxvii / Could There Be A Connection Between the Termination of The Terrorism by Armenian Secret Army for The Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and the Beginning of PKK Terrorism in Mid Eighties?
Conclusion
Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
One has to consider political, social, legal, historical, economic, sociological, demographic and strategic aspects to understand the violence of Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) which has caused social sufferings, inflicted great loss on the national economy, and victimized thousands of innocent civilians as well as security personnel since its first significant incidence in 1984. Without taking one of those aspects into consideration any explanation on the issue will be incomplete. Is the PKK terrorism economically motivated? Are Kurds compelled to violence as the last resort because of great oppression on themselves? To what extent foreign support determines the significance of PKK terrorism? Is PKK engaged in a national liberation? Does PKK struggle for more democracy and human rights? The answers to these and many more questions are searched in the light of the values of the modern world and maximum effort is given to avoid prejudice. Trying not to take a racist or fundamentalist side, democracy and rule of law are taken as the standpoint.
To decide whether the ongoing terrorism is an ethnic strife between Turks and Kurds or not largely depends on making choice between democracy with liberties and totalitarianism with dictatorship. There are sufficient criteria for violence to become legitimate. In the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it is set forth that it is essential if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law. Whether the Republic of Turkey respects human rights and the rule of law is attempted to be clarified by reference to the laws and relevant cases.
Given the complicated extensiveness of the subject, some points may still need to be touched. In any case, every aspect of the problem is referred to offer a broad outline. This booklet will be deemed to attain its objective which is to bring a new outlook by questioning deeply rooted prejudices formed through misinformation or insufficient and partial information.
Turkish Democracy Foundation
Ankara, May 1996.
I. What Is the Proportion of the Citizens of
Kurdish Descent to the Population of Turkey?
It appears to be impossible to reach a definite conclusion on the number of Turkish citizens with Kurdish origin and their proportion to the whole population. The figures given by different orientalists on the subject are sometimes contradictory and they do not confirm each other.
Some of those figures can be described as follows: 1
…..
Turkish Democracy Foundation
Fact Book on Turkey Kurds and the PKK Terrorism
Compte d’auteur
The Turkish Democracy Foundation
Presents
Fact Book on Turkey Kurds and the PKK Terrorism
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Ankara, May 1996
