PiK: US accusation of leading Kurds is to block peace process

STATEMENT, Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, — The US drug trafficking accusation against the leading Kurds is a cynical attempt to block the peace process

The decision of the United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to designate five leading Kurdish politicians [i] as Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficking Kingpins (SDNTK’s) on 20th April 2011, pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act), needs to be condemned for it represents yet another cynical attempt by the US government – in co-ordination with the Turkish state – to frustrate any peace initiatives by Kurdish parties and political representatives that might resolve the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. Resolution of the conflict threatens lucrative US arms sales to the region as well as undemocratic – not to mention genocidal [ii] – practices by a Turkish NATO-linked ‘ally’ that the US government supports for geostrategic and corporate-profit related reasons.

One of the designated targeted Kurdish politicians, Remzi Kartal, notes that “this statement came a day after Turkey’s Defence Industry Executive Committee (DIEC) announced its decision to award a $US4 billion dollar contract for military helicopters to US firm Sikorsky … This decision by the US Treasury Department is unjustifiable and completely without foundation. It is a decision against the Kurdish Freedom Movement and a warrant to execute us. To label politicians, who have devoted their lives to defend the Kurdish Nation’s right to exist as criminals and drug smugglers is obscene and deceitful and indicative of dirty politics. This is a decision taken against 20 million Kurds living in Turkey”.[iii]

MESOP and the European Union Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) have concluded that “it is obvious” that the real “reason for the US officials’ accusations is not drug-trafficking but rather to inhibit the successful diplomatic representation of the Kurds in Europe, the US and elsewhere. Well-known Kurdish diplomats are being criminalised … In this way, the USA and Turkey are trying to stop the peace process in Turkey”.[iv] The OFAC designated ruling coincides with targeted actions by the AKP-MGK (National Security Council) in Turkey that have sought to frustrate the Democratic Solution Tents and non-violent civil disobedience initiatives that form part of the popular struggle for democracy in Turkey and Democratic Autonomy in Kurdistan.

Under the guise of “the struggle against terror”, the recently released MGK memorandum speaks of “a multidimensional and comprehensive approach to annihilate the terrain that feeds terror”. Legal non-violent “civil disobedience” pro-peace activities of the Kurds are targeted by the MGK memorandum as “staged under the guise of human rights” and needing to be “challenged”.[v] This is all happening even as there have been acts of state violence against peaceful civil disobedience campaigners; a show trial of prominent Kurdish politicians, lawyers and human rights campaigners is proceeding; war crimes are being perpetrated by state forces and ultimately unsuccessful initiatives have been undertaken by the High Elections Committee to veto the electoral right of prominent Kurds to stand as independent candidates.

The US designation targeting prominent Kurds follows, unfortunately, a shameful trend that needs to be opposed – in which the US has sought to not only criminalise key Kurdish political parties and leaders involved in trying to end the conflict in Turkey,[vi] but also lawyers, peace activists and conflict resolution campaigners trying to achieve those ends.[vii]

END NOTES

[i]   Cemil Bayik, Duran Kalkan, Sabri Ok, Adem Uzen and <http://www.kurdish-info.eu/News-new_topic-3.html> Remzi Kartal.

[ii]   Peace in Kurdistan (2011) Briefing Paper: The struggle for Kurdish language rights in Turkey. February 2011.

[iii]   Kartal, R. (2011) ‘The US Treasury is Lying’, Kurdish Info, 27 April 2011 (Accessed at: http://www.kurdish-info.eu/News-sid-The-United-States-Treasury-is-Lying-16819.html).

[iv]   MESOP and EUTCC (2011) ‘Statement: US OFAC Contra Kurds: Outrageous Unproven Accusations Against Five Kurdish politicians’, April 2011.

[v]   Kurdish Info (2011) ‘NSC and AKP Coalition and the Civil Disobedience Campaign’, 30 April 2011.

[vi]   On the 14 October 2009, the US Department of Treasury designated Murat Karayilan, Ali Riza Altun and Zubayir Aydar as “significant foreign narcotics traffickers”. The PKK continues to be designated as a terrorist organisation despite its numerous peace-initiatives.

[vii]   The Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) notes that: “In June 2010, the United States Supreme Court rejected CCR’s challenge against the criminalisation of political speech and humanitarian aid in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project <http://www.ccrjustice.org/hlp> . The decision marks the first time that the Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment permits Congress to make pure speech advocating lawful, nonviolent activity-human rights advocacy and peacemaking – a crime. Doing so can land a citizen in prison for 15 years, all in the name of ‘fighting terrorism’ … CCR’s Humanitarian Law Project litigation consist[ed] of three cases … The lead plaintiff in these cases was the Humanitarian Law Project (HLP) … with consultative status to the United Nations that advocates for the peaceful resolution of armed conflicts and for worldwide compliance with humanitarian law and human rights law. HLP wanted to assist the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) with conflict resolution and human rights monitoring in Turkey” – CCR (2010) ‘Factsheet: Material Support’ (Accessed at: http://ccrjustice.org/learn-more/faqs/factsheet%3A-material-support).

As Chomsky observed in February this year, concerning the Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project ruling: “It was initiated by the Obama administration. It was argued by Elena Kagan, Obama’s new court appointment. And they won, with the support of the far-right justices. The case is extremely significant. It’s the worst attack on freedom of speech since the Smith Act 70 years ago. The case determined that any material support to organizations that the government lists on the terrorist list is criminalised, but they interpreted ‘material support’ — in fact, the issue at stake was speech. Humanitarian Law Project was giving advice — speech — to a group that’s on the terrorist list, [the] … PKK … Incidentally, the terrorist list is totally illegitimate … [The] terrorist list is an arbitrary list established by the executive with no basis whatsoever, by whim, for example, but no supervision” – Noam Chomsky interviewed by Amy Goodman, ‘”Democracy Uprising” in the U.S.A.?: Noam Chomsky on Wisconsin’s Resistance to Assault on Public Sector, the Obama-Sanctioned Crackdown on Activists, and the Distorted Legacy of Ronald Reagan’, Democracy Now, 17 February 2011 (Accessed at: http://chomsky.info/interviews/20110217.htm <http://chomsky.info/interviews/20110217.htm> ) <http://oreaddaily.blogspot.com/2011/01/holder-vs-humanitarian-law-project-and.html> .

Peace in Kurdistan

Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question

Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk  

Patrons: Lord Avebury, Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Alyn Smith MEP, Hywel Williams MP, Elfyn Llwyd MP, John Austin, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, Edward Albee, Margaret Owen OBE, Mark Thomas, Bairbre de Brún MEP