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OF HUNGER STRIKES AND ROLE MODELS: AN INTERVIEW WITH BILGIN AYATA
Posted by Khatchig Mouradian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/11/05/of-hunger-strikes-and-role-models-an-interview-with-bilgin-ayata/
November 5, 2012
Hundreds of Kurdish political prisoners have been on a hunger strike
in Turkey for the 56thday now. On Nov. 4, the Armenian Weekly editor
conducted an interview with Dr. Bilgin Ayata about the reaction the
hunger strike in Turkish prisons is receiving and the demands of the
hunger strikers.
Bilgin Ayata Dr. Bilgin Ayata is an Assistant Professor at Freie
Universitat Berlin. She received her Ph.D. from the department of
political science at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Her research
interests include the politics of displacement, trans-nationalism,
social movements, and migration.
Below is the full text of the interview.
***
Khatchig Mouradian-Talk about the demands of the hunger strikers.
Bilgin Ayata-In 2009, a very large wave of arrests began after the
criminal investigation into KCK (Union of Communities in Kurdistan).
About 8,000 people had been arrested. At that point, there were
many protests particularly because the arrests included prominent
intellectuals. But ever since Busra Ersanli, a political science
professor in Istanbul, and a few others were released, public awareness
of this issue has declined even further. The majority of the lawyers,
students, journalists, and activists remain in prison: this means
people have been detained for almost three years, and some of them
have not even had a trial.
When the KCK trials began, the Kurdish inmates insisted on doing
their defense in the Kurdish language, which is prohibited in Turkish
courts. Thus, one of the three demands of the hunger strikers is to
speak in their mother tongue at court. The other demand is primary
education in the mother tongue-so far the government allows the
Kurdish language to be taught only in private language schools and
not in public schools. The third demand is to end the isolation and
solitary confinement of the PKK's leader Abdullah Ocalan. For more
than 440 days now, Ocalan's lawyers have not been allowed to see him.
The hunger strikers have stated that Abdullah Ocalan is the leader
of the PKK, and thus he is a leader of the Kurds; thus, the way he is
treated stands symbolically for the treatment of the Kurds in Turkey.
K.M.-Let's discuss the reaction the hunger strike engendered in
Turkey. It seems that only after a lag of a few weeks did the media
start paying attention to the plight and demands of the hunger
strikers.
B.A.-When the strike began, only the Kurdish media and a few
alternative outlets reported on it. Now the Turkish mainstream media
reports only sporadically about the hunger strike from the perspective
of the government, which tries to silence and suppress the issue.
However, ongoing protests in the Kurdish region in support of the
hunger strikes as well as a growing number of initiatives are trying
to break this silence. First, Kurdish scholars initiated a petition
campaign that received international support from Noam Chomsky, Judith
Butler, Michael Taussig and a number of other intellectuals. Later on,
Turkish scholars also initiated a petition campaign in Turkey.
Currently, an interesting campaign is underway in Turkey, where people
are called upon to write their protests on money bills against the
silencing of the hunger strike.
Plenty of alternative information is being circulated on Facebook
and Twitter, including many pictures of police brutality against
the relatives of the hunger strikers. Together with the ongoing mass
protests in the Kurdish region-which the rest of Turkey or the world
doesn't take notice of-these actions are contributing to the increasing
visibility of the hunger strike, but compared to the severity of the
situation, the overall silence is appalling.
Unfortunately, Turkey's Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is not
simply a passive bystander in this. He even blatantly lied in public
appearances. In a recent visit to Berlin, Germany, he stated that
the hunger strike is a lie, and that the inmates are eating secretly.
Ironically, at the very same time, the German Minister of Justice
was visiting her counterpart in Ankara, who was briefing her that
there were hundreds of hunger strikers in Turkish prisons. Similar
statements have been made by other Prime Ministers in earlier hunger
strikes. Erdogan is reacting exactly like his predecessors in this
issue.
K.M.-It seems highly unlikely that the Turkish government will engage
with the demands of the hunger strikers in any meaningful way. You
mentioned how this is not the first time that hunger strikes occur
in Turkish prisons. What do past experiences teach us?
B.A.-Hunger strikes are ultimately a lethal form of protest. Prisoners
take this up at a point when they believe all else has failed. You go
on hunger strike because you want to make your voice heard no matter
what the costs, and when the only means left is your body.
History shows that hunger strikes in Turkey end brutally. During the
hunger strike in prisons in 1999, first the inmates who lost their
consciousness were forcibly fed, and later, the military raided
the prisons. Twenty-seven people died during these military raids,
another 100 in the death fasts, and many of the hunger strikers are
carrying irreversible illnesses until today.
K.M.-The hunger strike has not garnered reaction-let alone outrage-from
the international community either.
B.A.-When Erdogan visited here [Berlin], Chancellor [Angela] Merkel,
at least publicly, did not raise this issue. Of course there are
common interests stopping her from engaging in public criticism. The
international media has been very silent on the hunger strike as well.
With each passing day, there are more reports, but they are still
few and far between.
We are now the 54th day, so the health deterioration of the prisoners
is proceeding rapidly. If no solution is found, deaths are going to
occur soon, and unfortunately only then the international media will
probably pay more attention.
This is indicative of a general trend over the past decade to turn a
blind eye on Turkey's Kurdish conflict and the quality of democracy in
Turkey. One has to consider that Turkey is being promoted as a role
model for democracy since 2001. This role model discourse has gained
intensity in the wake of the Arab revolutions, during which Turkey
was promoted as a democratic role model for the Middle East, even
though these mass arrests were occurring in Turkey, and the Kurdish
conflict was in full swing. Arresting 8,000 people affiliated in one
way or another with the Kurdish movement and the BDP [the pro-Kurdish
Peace and Democracy Party] means extinguishing the possibilities of
legitimate political struggle for Kurds by collectively criminalizing
them. It is as if the state wants to push for more violence to come.
Instead of a political solution to the Kurdish conflict, the AKP
government is relying on brute force-just as its predecessors. How
this makes Turkey a role model for democracy is anybody's guess.
Posted by Khatchig Mouradian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/11/05/of-hunger-strikes-and-role-models-an-interview-with-bilgin-ayata/
November 5, 2012
Hundreds of Kurdish political prisoners have been on a hunger strike
in Turkey for the 56thday now. On Nov. 4, the Armenian Weekly editor
conducted an interview with Dr. Bilgin Ayata about the reaction the
hunger strike in Turkish prisons is receiving and the demands of the
hunger strikers.
Bilgin Ayata Dr. Bilgin Ayata is an Assistant Professor at Freie
Universitat Berlin. She received her Ph.D. from the department of
political science at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Her research
interests include the politics of displacement, trans-nationalism,
social movements, and migration.
Below is the full text of the interview.
***
Khatchig Mouradian-Talk about the demands of the hunger strikers.
Bilgin Ayata-In 2009, a very large wave of arrests began after the
criminal investigation into KCK (Union of Communities in Kurdistan).
About 8,000 people had been arrested. At that point, there were
many protests particularly because the arrests included prominent
intellectuals. But ever since Busra Ersanli, a political science
professor in Istanbul, and a few others were released, public awareness
of this issue has declined even further. The majority of the lawyers,
students, journalists, and activists remain in prison: this means
people have been detained for almost three years, and some of them
have not even had a trial.
When the KCK trials began, the Kurdish inmates insisted on doing
their defense in the Kurdish language, which is prohibited in Turkish
courts. Thus, one of the three demands of the hunger strikers is to
speak in their mother tongue at court. The other demand is primary
education in the mother tongue-so far the government allows the
Kurdish language to be taught only in private language schools and
not in public schools. The third demand is to end the isolation and
solitary confinement of the PKK's leader Abdullah Ocalan. For more
than 440 days now, Ocalan's lawyers have not been allowed to see him.
The hunger strikers have stated that Abdullah Ocalan is the leader
of the PKK, and thus he is a leader of the Kurds; thus, the way he is
treated stands symbolically for the treatment of the Kurds in Turkey.
K.M.-Let's discuss the reaction the hunger strike engendered in
Turkey. It seems that only after a lag of a few weeks did the media
start paying attention to the plight and demands of the hunger
strikers.
B.A.-When the strike began, only the Kurdish media and a few
alternative outlets reported on it. Now the Turkish mainstream media
reports only sporadically about the hunger strike from the perspective
of the government, which tries to silence and suppress the issue.
However, ongoing protests in the Kurdish region in support of the
hunger strikes as well as a growing number of initiatives are trying
to break this silence. First, Kurdish scholars initiated a petition
campaign that received international support from Noam Chomsky, Judith
Butler, Michael Taussig and a number of other intellectuals. Later on,
Turkish scholars also initiated a petition campaign in Turkey.
Currently, an interesting campaign is underway in Turkey, where people
are called upon to write their protests on money bills against the
silencing of the hunger strike.
Plenty of alternative information is being circulated on Facebook
and Twitter, including many pictures of police brutality against
the relatives of the hunger strikers. Together with the ongoing mass
protests in the Kurdish region-which the rest of Turkey or the world
doesn't take notice of-these actions are contributing to the increasing
visibility of the hunger strike, but compared to the severity of the
situation, the overall silence is appalling.
Unfortunately, Turkey's Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is not
simply a passive bystander in this. He even blatantly lied in public
appearances. In a recent visit to Berlin, Germany, he stated that
the hunger strike is a lie, and that the inmates are eating secretly.
Ironically, at the very same time, the German Minister of Justice
was visiting her counterpart in Ankara, who was briefing her that
there were hundreds of hunger strikers in Turkish prisons. Similar
statements have been made by other Prime Ministers in earlier hunger
strikes. Erdogan is reacting exactly like his predecessors in this
issue.
K.M.-It seems highly unlikely that the Turkish government will engage
with the demands of the hunger strikers in any meaningful way. You
mentioned how this is not the first time that hunger strikes occur
in Turkish prisons. What do past experiences teach us?
B.A.-Hunger strikes are ultimately a lethal form of protest. Prisoners
take this up at a point when they believe all else has failed. You go
on hunger strike because you want to make your voice heard no matter
what the costs, and when the only means left is your body.
History shows that hunger strikes in Turkey end brutally. During the
hunger strike in prisons in 1999, first the inmates who lost their
consciousness were forcibly fed, and later, the military raided
the prisons. Twenty-seven people died during these military raids,
another 100 in the death fasts, and many of the hunger strikers are
carrying irreversible illnesses until today.
K.M.-The hunger strike has not garnered reaction-let alone outrage-from
the international community either.
B.A.-When Erdogan visited here [Berlin], Chancellor [Angela] Merkel,
at least publicly, did not raise this issue. Of course there are
common interests stopping her from engaging in public criticism. The
international media has been very silent on the hunger strike as well.
With each passing day, there are more reports, but they are still
few and far between.
We are now the 54th day, so the health deterioration of the prisoners
is proceeding rapidly. If no solution is found, deaths are going to
occur soon, and unfortunately only then the international media will
probably pay more attention.
This is indicative of a general trend over the past decade to turn a
blind eye on Turkey's Kurdish conflict and the quality of democracy in
Turkey. One has to consider that Turkey is being promoted as a role
model for democracy since 2001. This role model discourse has gained
intensity in the wake of the Arab revolutions, during which Turkey
was promoted as a democratic role model for the Middle East, even
though these mass arrests were occurring in Turkey, and the Kurdish
conflict was in full swing. Arresting 8,000 people affiliated in one
way or another with the Kurdish movement and the BDP [the pro-Kurdish
Peace and Democracy Party] means extinguishing the possibilities of
legitimate political struggle for Kurds by collectively criminalizing
them. It is as if the state wants to push for more violence to come.
Instead of a political solution to the Kurdish conflict, the AKP
government is relying on brute force-just as its predecessors. How
this makes Turkey a role model for democracy is anybody's guess.