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Dec 31 2009
Ethnic cleansing on the streets of Diyarbakir
December 30, 6:01 PMWorld History Examiner
Dev Meyers
diyarbakir kalesi - fot.nejat satici23 Kurdish mayors and politicians
characterized mainly as moderates have been rounded up and arrested
over the Christmas holiday in Turkey. Hardliners in Turkey accuse the
offenders of being terrorists. Many Kurds have expressed their fears
that they are watching the unfolding of one of the biggest Ethnic
Cleansings ever to take place on the globe.
Abdullah Demirbas was featured in the New York Times last February.
The story is a great read and very informative if you would like to
really understand the character and reputations of the people who were
profiled for this operation by the Turks.
As the New York Times spells it out, Demirbas crime went something like this:
The battle that Demirbas entered, waged entirely on paper and in
courtrooms, is closely related to the violence. For the past two
years, politicians all over southeastern Turkey, along with human
rights advocates, journalists and other public figures, have been sued
for instances of Kurdish-language usage so minor that they are often a
matter of a few words: sending a greeting card with the words `happy
new year' in Kurdish, for example, or saying `my dear sisters' in a
speech at a political rally. Such lawsuits have become so common that
in some cases the accused is simply fined for using the letters W, X
or Q ' present in the Kurdish but not the Turkish alphabet ' in an
official capacity. In cases involving elected politicians, like
Demirbas, the language usage is sometimes considered disloyalty and
can carry a prison sentence.
Ironically, while those 23 who were arrested were still settling into
their jail cells, the municipal assembly of Diyarbak?r's Sur district
announced the decision to change the names of three streets to honor
Armenian and Syriac authors who used to live on those routes.
Diyarbak?r to rename streets in honor of local Christian authors
Playwright Kelly Stuart commented, "This article is ironic now.
Dermirbas is one of the mayors who has been arrested. I interviewed
him many times. The project described below is th.e kind of thing he
lived for. His 17 year old son joined the PKK, right after the closure
of the DTP party. This is something he could not be happy with, he
loved his son and did not believe in war."
And this story Kurdish Youth Shot Dead in Turkish Bar for Singing
Kurdish Song. You can get shot in a bar in the United States it
someone doesn't like your song. But it is unlikely the police will be
called in to shoot the singer!
http://www.examiner.com/x-25600-World-His tory-Examiner~y2009m12d30-Ethnic-cleansing-on-the- streets-of-Diyarbakir
Dec 31 2009
Ethnic cleansing on the streets of Diyarbakir
December 30, 6:01 PMWorld History Examiner
Dev Meyers
diyarbakir kalesi - fot.nejat satici23 Kurdish mayors and politicians
characterized mainly as moderates have been rounded up and arrested
over the Christmas holiday in Turkey. Hardliners in Turkey accuse the
offenders of being terrorists. Many Kurds have expressed their fears
that they are watching the unfolding of one of the biggest Ethnic
Cleansings ever to take place on the globe.
Abdullah Demirbas was featured in the New York Times last February.
The story is a great read and very informative if you would like to
really understand the character and reputations of the people who were
profiled for this operation by the Turks.
As the New York Times spells it out, Demirbas crime went something like this:
The battle that Demirbas entered, waged entirely on paper and in
courtrooms, is closely related to the violence. For the past two
years, politicians all over southeastern Turkey, along with human
rights advocates, journalists and other public figures, have been sued
for instances of Kurdish-language usage so minor that they are often a
matter of a few words: sending a greeting card with the words `happy
new year' in Kurdish, for example, or saying `my dear sisters' in a
speech at a political rally. Such lawsuits have become so common that
in some cases the accused is simply fined for using the letters W, X
or Q ' present in the Kurdish but not the Turkish alphabet ' in an
official capacity. In cases involving elected politicians, like
Demirbas, the language usage is sometimes considered disloyalty and
can carry a prison sentence.
Ironically, while those 23 who were arrested were still settling into
their jail cells, the municipal assembly of Diyarbak?r's Sur district
announced the decision to change the names of three streets to honor
Armenian and Syriac authors who used to live on those routes.
Diyarbak?r to rename streets in honor of local Christian authors
Playwright Kelly Stuart commented, "This article is ironic now.
Dermirbas is one of the mayors who has been arrested. I interviewed
him many times. The project described below is th.e kind of thing he
lived for. His 17 year old son joined the PKK, right after the closure
of the DTP party. This is something he could not be happy with, he
loved his son and did not believe in war."
And this story Kurdish Youth Shot Dead in Turkish Bar for Singing
Kurdish Song. You can get shot in a bar in the United States it
someone doesn't like your song. But it is unlikely the police will be
called in to shoot the singer!
http://www.examiner.com/x-25600-World-His tory-Examiner~y2009m12d30-Ethnic-cleansing-on-the- streets-of-Diyarbakir