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Turkey's Kurdish Clashes Grow, Threaten European Union Entry
May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Sakine Arat hasn't seen her son since he left their hometown in southeast Turkey 13 years ago and joined Kurdish rebels doing battle with the army.
``I sometimes catch a glimpse of a young man who looks like Murat, in a crowd in front of me or on the other side of the road,'' Arat, 71, said in Diyarbakir, 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Syrian border. ``But of course, it's never him.''
Murat is one of 7,000 armed Kurds fighting Turkish soldiers in the southeastern mountains in a conflict that has escalated since his Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, ended a five-year cease-fire in June 2004. The PKK is demanding political rights and better living standards for Turkey's 12 million Kurds. The government says it's a terrorist organization.
Escalating ethnic tensions and bomb attacks in the region this year have damaged tourism and may threaten Turkey's bid to join the European Union. The 25-nation bloc has called on Turkey to strengthen democracy for the Kurds, including allowing them the right to stage protests. The Muslim Kurds are the dominant ethnic group in southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq and northwestern Iran.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 52, says he won't negotiate with the rebels, and has criticized the EU for failing to curb the organization's financing and political support from Kurdish exiles in Europe.
``The EU must be looking rather negatively at Turkey right now, because the government had told them it is widening rights for Kurds and tackling the military, but now all we seem to be seeing is violence and bloodshed,'' said Amanda Akcakoca, a policy analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels.
Violent Clashes
The PKK ended its cease-fire after the Turkish army refused to stop attacks against its members. At least 75 militants and Turkish security personnel have died in clashes since November, according to government reports. Forty people were killed in April alone.
Turkish police fired on demonstrators in Diyarbakir, killing at least 10 people, after thousands rampaged through the city throwing stones and setting fire to buildings during a March 28 funeral procession for four members of the PKK. Among 300 people arrested were 10 regional chiefs of the Democratic Society, or DTP, Turkey's biggest pro-Kurdish party.
At least 21 people, including 11 children, were wounded when a bomb exploded in the town of Hakkari, less than 50 kilometers from Iran and Iraq, on May 3. Authorities blamed Kurdish rebels for the attack.
Kurdish groups have threatened to attack tourist resorts on Turkey's Mediterranean coastline this year. The number of visitors slumped 12 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. Turkey is relying on revenue from tourism to help narrow a current-account deficit that widened to a record $23 billion last year.
EU Negotiations
Turkey began EU membership talks in October, hoping to attract investment by foreign companies, boost incomes and create jobs for a working-age population that's growing by half a million each year. The country won't be able to join before 2014 at the earliest, the EU says.
Plans by the Turkish government for tougher anti-terrorism laws to tackle the PKK, now before parliament, have been criticized by the EU, which says the measure threatens to setback democratic reforms in the Kurdish region.
``We call upon all parties to exercise restraint, to remain committed to peaceful means and to show respect for democracy and the rule of law,'' said Krisztina Nagy, a spokeswoman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, in an e-mailed statement.
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, 58, was sentenced to be executed by a Turkish court in 1999. The government commuted his punishment to life imprisonment and dropped the death penalty three years later under pressure from the EU. Ocalan is the sole prisoner on an island jail off Turkey's western coast.
Village Murders
The Turkish parliament in the past five years has passed laws allowing Kurdish TV and radio broadcasts and now allows Kurdish adults to study in their own language. Kurdish activists including Leyla Zana, released in July 2004 after a 10-year jail term, say the steps don't go far enough.
Kurdish discontent is evident in Diyarbakir, where the unemployment rate is 40 percent, or almost twice government estimates, according to Sahismail Bedirhanoglu, head of the city's largest business group. A government plan to inject cash into the southeast's economy won't work unless taxes are lowered for companies, he said in an interview April 13.
In Dogancay, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Turkey's border with Syria, villagers are mourning the murder of Ferho Akgul, 85, and his wife Fatma, 80, who were attacked in their home on March 2. The two are the parents of Derwish Ferho, chairman of the Kurdish Institute of Brussels, a group that campaigns against what it says are violations of Kurds' human rights.
`Show Courage'
``It appears that the murders were politically motivated, but none of us have any idea who killed them,'' said Ferman Akgul, 18, a relative of the dead couple, in an interview.
Sakine Arat hopes pressure from the EU will end the violence and bring home her son Murat, who's now 37. Tarcettin, another of her five sons, died at the age of 34 fighting the Turkish army last year, she said.
``All I want is peace and my son back by my side, just like any other mother or father would do,'' she said. ``The government must show courage and announce an amnesty for all those fighting in the mountains, to help put an end to all this bloodshed.''
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mark Bentley in Ankara, Turkey at [email protected]
Last Updated: May 11, 2006 20:16 EDT
May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Sakine Arat hasn't seen her son since he left their hometown in southeast Turkey 13 years ago and joined Kurdish rebels doing battle with the army.
``I sometimes catch a glimpse of a young man who looks like Murat, in a crowd in front of me or on the other side of the road,'' Arat, 71, said in Diyarbakir, 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Syrian border. ``But of course, it's never him.''
Murat is one of 7,000 armed Kurds fighting Turkish soldiers in the southeastern mountains in a conflict that has escalated since his Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, ended a five-year cease-fire in June 2004. The PKK is demanding political rights and better living standards for Turkey's 12 million Kurds. The government says it's a terrorist organization.
Escalating ethnic tensions and bomb attacks in the region this year have damaged tourism and may threaten Turkey's bid to join the European Union. The 25-nation bloc has called on Turkey to strengthen democracy for the Kurds, including allowing them the right to stage protests. The Muslim Kurds are the dominant ethnic group in southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq and northwestern Iran.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 52, says he won't negotiate with the rebels, and has criticized the EU for failing to curb the organization's financing and political support from Kurdish exiles in Europe.
``The EU must be looking rather negatively at Turkey right now, because the government had told them it is widening rights for Kurds and tackling the military, but now all we seem to be seeing is violence and bloodshed,'' said Amanda Akcakoca, a policy analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels.
Violent Clashes
The PKK ended its cease-fire after the Turkish army refused to stop attacks against its members. At least 75 militants and Turkish security personnel have died in clashes since November, according to government reports. Forty people were killed in April alone.
Turkish police fired on demonstrators in Diyarbakir, killing at least 10 people, after thousands rampaged through the city throwing stones and setting fire to buildings during a March 28 funeral procession for four members of the PKK. Among 300 people arrested were 10 regional chiefs of the Democratic Society, or DTP, Turkey's biggest pro-Kurdish party.
At least 21 people, including 11 children, were wounded when a bomb exploded in the town of Hakkari, less than 50 kilometers from Iran and Iraq, on May 3. Authorities blamed Kurdish rebels for the attack.
Kurdish groups have threatened to attack tourist resorts on Turkey's Mediterranean coastline this year. The number of visitors slumped 12 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. Turkey is relying on revenue from tourism to help narrow a current-account deficit that widened to a record $23 billion last year.
EU Negotiations
Turkey began EU membership talks in October, hoping to attract investment by foreign companies, boost incomes and create jobs for a working-age population that's growing by half a million each year. The country won't be able to join before 2014 at the earliest, the EU says.
Plans by the Turkish government for tougher anti-terrorism laws to tackle the PKK, now before parliament, have been criticized by the EU, which says the measure threatens to setback democratic reforms in the Kurdish region.
``We call upon all parties to exercise restraint, to remain committed to peaceful means and to show respect for democracy and the rule of law,'' said Krisztina Nagy, a spokeswoman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, in an e-mailed statement.
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, 58, was sentenced to be executed by a Turkish court in 1999. The government commuted his punishment to life imprisonment and dropped the death penalty three years later under pressure from the EU. Ocalan is the sole prisoner on an island jail off Turkey's western coast.
Village Murders
The Turkish parliament in the past five years has passed laws allowing Kurdish TV and radio broadcasts and now allows Kurdish adults to study in their own language. Kurdish activists including Leyla Zana, released in July 2004 after a 10-year jail term, say the steps don't go far enough.
Kurdish discontent is evident in Diyarbakir, where the unemployment rate is 40 percent, or almost twice government estimates, according to Sahismail Bedirhanoglu, head of the city's largest business group. A government plan to inject cash into the southeast's economy won't work unless taxes are lowered for companies, he said in an interview April 13.
In Dogancay, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Turkey's border with Syria, villagers are mourning the murder of Ferho Akgul, 85, and his wife Fatma, 80, who were attacked in their home on March 2. The two are the parents of Derwish Ferho, chairman of the Kurdish Institute of Brussels, a group that campaigns against what it says are violations of Kurds' human rights.
`Show Courage'
``It appears that the murders were politically motivated, but none of us have any idea who killed them,'' said Ferman Akgul, 18, a relative of the dead couple, in an interview.
Sakine Arat hopes pressure from the EU will end the violence and bring home her son Murat, who's now 37. Tarcettin, another of her five sons, died at the age of 34 fighting the Turkish army last year, she said.
``All I want is peace and my son back by my side, just like any other mother or father would do,'' she said. ``The government must show courage and announce an amnesty for all those fighting in the mountains, to help put an end to all this bloodshed.''
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mark Bentley in Ankara, Turkey at [email protected]
Last Updated: May 11, 2006 20:16 EDT
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