Kurds in Turkey

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Turkish cities with high Kurdish population
Kurdish woman with daughters 1973
Settlement area of ​​the Turkish Kurds

The Kurds in Turkey represent an estimated 19 percent of the total population (about 15 million), the largest ethnic minority in Turkey . As asked in the census in Turkey since 1985, no longer to the mother tongue, there is no exact information on Number of Kurds in Turkey. On the basis of the Treaty of Lausanne 1923, the newly founded Turkey did not recognize the Kurds - in contrast to the Armenians and Greeks - as an ethnic minority, since religious affiliation (in the case of Islam at the time ) was determined as a criterion for national affiliation.

history

Illustration from the Cumhuriyet newspaper of September 19, 1930 with the inscription This is where fictional Kurdistan is buried . Related to the Ararat uprising.

Large sections of the Kurdish population lived under Turkish influence from the 11th century, first under the Seljuks and later under the Ottoman rulers. The first official relations between Kurds and the Ottoman Empire took place in 1514. In the Battle of Çaldıran , the Kurds took part on the side of the Ottomans. This gave them the opportunity to continue their autonomous forms of rule in the Ottoman Empire. The autonomous structure of the Kurdish principalities lasted until the 19th century without leading to further conflicts.

From the beginning of the 19th century to 1880 and then up to the First World War , there were numerous Kurdish uprisings, as a result of which the Kurdish princes were eliminated and the autonomous rule structures came to an end. Parts of the Kurdish elite then made the decision to found an independent state.

After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the Triple Entente in the Peace of Sèvres in 1920 granted the Kurds the right to self-determination. On the other hand, the Kurdish area was divided up: the southwestern regions of Kurdistan were under French influence and were thus added to Syria , while Great Britain became a mandate in what is now Iraq , to which the southeastern Kurdish parts of the country were added.

In view of the occupation and division of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal , later Ataturk, organized the resistance against the European occupying powers and Greece . By clever tactics and appeals to the religious sentiments of the Kurds, he secured the support of the Kurdish tribal leaders and sheikhs . The Kurds then fought successfully on the side of the Turks against the occupying powers in the national liberation struggle .

Turkish soldiers with a group of local people from Dersim who have been resettled

In the newly negotiated Treaty of Lausanne (July 24, 1923), however, the provisions of Sèvres were revised and the concessions of autonomy to the Kurds were dropped. Ataturk's reforms, secularism and secularization , met with resistance from the Kurds, who are characterized by feudal structures and religiosity. In addition, the Kemalist ideology provided for a homogeneous Turkish state. The Kurds now resisted these reforms and Turkish attempts at assimilation .

The statement made by the Turkish Justice Minister Mahmut Esat Bozkurt on the Kurdish question became known. In 1930 he stated that the Turks were the masters of the country. Those who are not "real Turks" ( Öztürkler ) have only one right: the right to be servants or slaves.

Between the years 1925 and 1938 there were about twenty Kurdish uprisings that were religious, economic and political. Uprisings like the Koçgiri Uprising (1920), Sheikh Said Uprising (1925), the Ararat Uprising (1930) and the Dersim Uprising (1938) were put down by the Turkish army . The fighting was followed by extensive Turkic measures, so Turkish surnames were introduced and place names were replaced by Turkish ones. There were also resettlements with deportations of Kurds and the simultaneous resettlement of Turks.

The Kurds were used as mountain Turks . The official use of the Kurdish language was forbidden for a long time and was only allowed under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan .

Assimilation Policy in the Turkish Republic

Main article: Ethnic groups in Turkey

The existence of the Kurds was never questioned in the Ottoman Empire, and the use of the term “Kurdistan” in official documents did not cause any contradiction until the 1920s. Even in the Misak-ı Millî there was no talk of the rights of the Turks, but of the Ottoman Muslims, which clearly referred to the Kurds. Ataturk himself spoke openly in an interview with journalists in early 1923 about the possibility of Kurdish autonomy.

After the conclusion of the Lausanne Treaty, however, that changed fundamentally. Turkey pursued a policy of assimilation towards the Kurds and denied cultural and ethnic differences. An attempt was made to portray the Kurds as a Turkish people who immigrated from Central Asia . Due to state restrictions, the Kurdish culture could not be lived out freely. In 1979 the official dictionary ( Türkçe Sözlük ) of the Türk Dil Kurumu used to explain the word "Kurd":

"Name of a community or member of this community of Turkish origin who has lost their language, speaks a degenerate form of Persian and lives in Turkey, Iraq and Iran."

A widespread etymological interpretation of the term "Kurd" ( Kürt ) was the crunch of fresh snow under the feet of the mountain dwellers.

After the suppression of the Sheikh Said uprising , a 'Reform Plan for the East' (Şark İslahat Planı) was developed, in which the official position and principles of action for the Kurdish problem were established.

It was a broad program. While Turkish politicians speak of a “reform plan”, Kurdish historians are of the opinion that the basic pillars of this plan can be described with the terms assimilation, deportation-resettlement and mass murder. Other laws, such as the so-called “Tunceli Law” or the Settlement Act, on the basis of which the Kurdish population should be settled in the west, were also perceived by the Kurds as a disadvantage and led to the Dersim uprising .

Native-speaking Kurdish classes in state schools are prohibited by the constitution. In Art. 42, Para. 9 it says:

"Turkish citizens may not be taught or taught any language other than Turkish as their mother tongue in educational institutions."

Kurdish-language media were banned until 1991. In Article 2 of Law 2932 it was stated:

"The presentation, dissemination and publication of ideas in a language other than the first official language of the states recognized by Turkey is prohibited."

Turkish has been legally established as the mother tongue of all Turkish citizens. According to Art. 4, the range of penalties for violating this law was between six months and two years in prison. Anyone who spoke, sang or published texts in the Kurdish language could be prosecuted under this law. The definitions and explanations about Kurds and their settlement areas have been banned from school books, encyclopedias and maps.

Law No. 2932 was amended in 1991 with Art. 23 lit. e) of the Anti-Terrorism Act repealed. In some cases, however, deficiencies in implementation have been identified in the last few decades.

Rule of law reforms

During the reign of Turgut Özal and later under Ecevit (1999–2001), extensive reforms began in civil law and strengthened human and civil rights (e.g. the right to assemble and demonstrate). These reforms continued under the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) (since 2001). Among other things, the cultural freedoms of the Kurdish minority were strengthened. The use of the Kurdish language, Kurdish lessons in private schools and Kurdish radio and television channels are now permitted. On August 18, 2004, the regulatory authority for television and radio stations (RTÜK) granted three private broadcasters in southeastern Turkey a license to broadcast in Kurdish ( Kurmanji dialect ). The license did not take effect immediately. The state broadcaster TRT 3 is also allowed to broadcast programs in Arabic , Zazaki , Kurmanji, Bosnian , etc.

After the state radio and television broadcaster TRT was allowed to broadcast a maximum of one hour per day and a maximum of 4 hours per week in local dialects in 2004, it took until March 2006 before regional broadcasters were also granted permission. On June 11, 2006, the daily Radikal reported that the High Council for Radio and Television had lifted the time limit for music and films in regional dialects. On January 1, 2009, the first state-run, 24-hour Kurdish-language television channel TRT Kurdî went into operation. In addition, a state-owned Kurdish-speaking radio station called "Türkiyenin Sesi" was launched.

When adjusting laws that provided for an implicit ban on the Kurdish language, the legislature overlooked the law on political parties (it was deleted from the law on associations, for example). Article 222 of the Turkish Penal Code , which came into force on June 1, 2005, provided for between 2 and 6 months' imprisonment for violating the 1928 Turkish Letters Act. This related to the use of letters that e.g. B. in the Kurdish alphabet, but not in the Turkish alphabet (like q, w and x). With the democracy package adopted by the Erdoğan government in 2013, the ban on Kurdish letters was completely lifted. The Kurdish language is also offered as an optional subject in state schools and universities and is therefore receiving state support for the first time. This reform package also enabled the election campaign in Kurdish and the renaming of previously Turkish place names.

Kurdish organizations in Turkey

After the suppression of the Koçgiri uprising , the Kurds saw no more opportunity to pursue politics on a legal level. They founded a secret political party called " Azadi " (freedom). The leaders were arrested in late 1924. In 1927 a new Kurdish party was founded in Beirut under the name ' Xoybûn Association'.

After Turkey switched to a multi-party system in 1949, numerous Kurds were active in the established political parties. A real Kurdish opposition came to light with the arrest and the trial of the "forty-nine" (actually 51 accused) Kurdish intellectuals. At that time, well-known people such as Musa Anter , Sait Kırmızıtoprak , Şerafettin Elçi , Naci Kutlay and Kemal Burkay were charged with attempting to split the Republic of Turkey with the assistance of foreign states . The 49 trial began on January 3, 1961 in the Istanbul Military Tribunal . In a first judgment on April 30, 1964, all of the accused were acquitted. The Military Cassation Court overturned the sentence. In the second verdict, some defendants were convicted, but the penalties became invalid because of the statute of limitations.

After the military coup of May 27, 1960 , a multiparty system was reintroduced with the 1961 constitution . The Türkiye İşçi Partisi (Workers' Party of Turkey) was particularly attractive to the intellectual leadership of the Kurdish population . It had a socialist program and was represented by 15 members in parliament - however, this party was banned by the Constitutional Court in 1971 because it saw the Kurds as a separate, separate people. On September 16, 1967, Kurdish members of the Türkiye İşçi Partisi denounced the imbalance between West and East in the country. This took place in the form of so-called "Eastern Meetings". These meetings prepared the basis for the establishment of the Devrimci Doğu Kültür Ocakları (DDKO). Mehdi Zana , Mümtaz Kotan , Ibrahim Güçlü , Sait Kırmızıtoprak, Mehmed Emîn Bozarslan , Tarık Ziya Ekinci , Naci Kutlay, Kemal Burkay and Ümit Fırat met there.

Legal parties

The pro-Kurdish parties with a certain proximity to the PKK became active in the early 1990s. Halkın Emek Partisi (HEP; People's Labor Party), founded in June 1990, succeeded in sending 22 Kurdish members to parliament in the 1991 parliamentary elections in Turkey via a joint list with the social democrat Halkçı Parti (Social Democratic People's Party). In July 1993 the HEP was banned by the Constitutional Court . Even before the ban was issued, the first Özgürlük ve Eşitlik Partisi (ÖZEP; Freedom and Equality Party), then Özgürlük ve Demokrasi Partisi (ÖZDEP; Freedom and Democracy Party) and finally Demokrasi Partisi (DEP; Democracy Party) replaced created.

A large part of the HEP MPs joined the DEP. On March 3, 1994, DEP MPs were deprived of their immunity, arrested and later sentenced to long prison terms. The DEP was banned on June 16, 1994. When the ban on DEP became apparent, its board member Murat Bozlak founded the Halkın Demokrasi Partisi (HADEP; People's Democracy Party) in 1994 . HADEP, which failed to pass the 10 percent hurdle in the 1995 elections, did not get into parliament. On June 23, 1996, at a ceremony to mark the founding of HADEP, its senior officials were arrested. The reason for this was that people tore down a Turkish flag at the party conference, which caused quite a stir. In the local elections on April 18, 1999, HADEP won 37 mayorships - including the Lord Mayor of Diyarbakır . Prohibition proceedings were carried out against them because of alleged contacts with the PKK. Democracy Halk Partisi (DEHAP; Democratic People's Party) , founded in 1998, took the place of HADEP . DEHAP dissolved itself in the face of a prohibition procedure in November 2005 and handed its offices over to the Democratic Party of Toplum Partisi (DTP; Party of Democratic Society), which was closed by the constitutional court in 2009.

In addition to the parties that are said to be the legal arm of the PKK, there are other pro-Kurdish parties that clearly distance themselves from the PKK. This includes the Demokrasi ve Barış Partisi (DBP Democracy and Peace Party). It was founded in 1996. Its chairman was Refik Karakoç. At the beginning of March 2002 the DBP dissolved and decided to continue within the Hak ve Özgürlükler Partisi (HAK-PAR; Party for Law and Freedoms). The first chairman of the HAK-PAR was Abdulmelik Firat . He was later replaced by Sertaç Bucak. Due to more difficult conditions for a club ban, the party narrowly escaped a ban in early 2008. DBP and HAK-PAR are said to be close to the illegal Socialist Party of Kurdistan (PSK).

Şerafettin Elçi, who was involved in politics in Turkish parties for many years, is responsible for founding other parties. On January 3, 1997 he founded the “Democracy Kitle Partisi” (DKP; Democratic Mass Party). However, the party was closed by the Constitutional Court on February 26, 1999 because it allegedly violated the indivisibility of people and state. Years later, on December 19, 2006, he founded the Katılımcı Demokrasi Partisi (KADEP; Party of Participatory Democracy). Elçi was chairman of the party until his death in 2012.

İbrahim Güçlü is the name behind an initiative that intends to found a party among the Kurds beyond existing factions. The initiative is called Kürt Ulusal Birlik Hareketi (TEVKURD movement of Kurdish national unity).

In 2008, the Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi claimed to represent the political and cultural interests of the Kurdish minority. In the parliamentary elections in Turkey in 2011 , the members of the BDP started as independent candidates in order to circumvent the 10% threshold. They later joined the BDP and thus formed a parliamentary group of almost 30 members. In 2014, many politicians of the BDP joined the Halkların Demokratik Partisi (HDP), which was no longer just a “Kurdish” party but also wanted to involve many Turkish left, socialist and other groups. In the 2015 general election, the HDP made it into parliament as a party with 13%. Another well-known Kurdish party is the more Islamic Hür Dava Partisi , founded in 2012 , which is said to have ideological closeness to the illegal organization Hezbollah (Turkey) , which was smashed in 2000 .

Illegal organizations

On the illegal level, the “ Democratic Party of Kurdistan-Turkey ” (T-KDP), based on the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP), first attracted attention. Well-known members were Sait Elçi, Faik Bucak and Sait Kırmızıtoprak, who presided over. In 1975 the Socialist Party of Kurdistan followed , which first called itself PSKT (Socialist Party of Kurdistan - Turkey) and then only PSK. In Turkey it was known as the freedom path ( Özgürlük Yolu ). Other illegal organizations were: Rizgari ( freedom founded in 1976 - since 1988 as PRK party), Ala Rizgari ( flag of freedom - founded in 1978), KAWA (name of the mystical hero Kawa - founded in 1976), KUK (national liberation of Kurdistan - founded in 1978) and KİP (Kurdish Workers 'Party - founded 1977), from which the PPKK (Avant-garde Kurdish Workers' Party) emerged in 1983. The KKP (Communist Party of Kurdistan), founded in 1992, pursues the same goals as the Communist Workers' Party of Turkey (TKEP).

As a student in Ankara, the undisputed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan , was first close to the THKP-C (Turkish People's Liberation Party Front) and the theories of Mahir Çayan . He (and other groups) later separated from the left-wing Turkish groups because they claimed that the Kurdish question would resolve itself once socialist rule was established in Turkey. The group around Öcalan initially called itself the National Liberation Army (UKO), but was mainly known in Turkey under the name Apocular (Apoists or followers of Apo, short for Abdullah). The term Apocu persisted long after the PKK was founded on November 27, 1978.

Until the military coup in Turkey in 1980 , militants from legal and illegal right and left organizations were not the only ones involved in armed battles. Both organizations of the Turkish left and the illegal Kurdish organizations fought each other. Even before the military coup, there were mass arrests of members of the PKK. After the military coup, almost all illegal organizations in Turkey were incapacitated by imprisoning their leading members. Only a few cadres were able to save themselves by fleeing abroad. Abdullah Öcalan fled first to Lebanon and then to Syria in May 1979 .

Armed conflict with the PKK

The armed conflict between units of the PKK and the Turkish security forces, which began on August 15, 1984, is said to have claimed around 40,000 lives by 2009. Other estimates speak of 45,000 fatalities. The chairman of the Human Rights Association ( İnsan Hakları Derneği İHD), Öztürk Türkdoğan, presented a report to the Turkish parliament in March 2012 in which he spoke of 33,635 deaths of political violence in 32 years (since the military coup in 1980). According to this balance, 26,731 people died in armed conflict. 6,904 civilians were victims of political murders, disappeared or died in custody.

In mid-September 2008, the chief of staff İlker Başbuğ told journalists the number of 32,000 "terrorists eliminated" (PKK militants killed) for a period of 24 years (August 15, 1984 to August 15, 2008). During the same period, 5,560 civilians and 6,482 members of the armed forces were killed. The number of active “terrorists” was given (as in 1999) as 6,000. According to research in February 2012, the average age at which militants join the PKK is 19.4 years. They have an average chance of survival of 6.9 years. Until 2002, the "insurgents" caught alive had to face the death penalty and execution . After the 1980 military coup , a number of people were sentenced to death for activities for the PKK, but none of these sentences were carried out, although the last two death sentences carried out in Turkey appeared to be a reaction to the start of the PKK's armed struggle.

Prosecution

Anyone who takes part in an action with a fatal outcome as a member of an armed organization (in the old criminal law this was an “armed gang”) receives the maximum sentence (until 2002 it was the death penalty, since then life imprisonment has been made more difficult). For Kurdish organizations that are classified as separatist, Article 302 of the new Turkish Criminal Law (TStG, Law 5237, it was Article 125 in the old TStG with number 765) is applied. Article 125 (old TStG) and Article 302 (new TStG) are also applied to persons who hold a leading position in such an organization without having participated in armed actions themselves. The PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan, is serving an aggravated life imprisonment which, according to current law, lasts until physical death. Members of the Democratic Party ( Demokrasi Parti , DEP) such as Leyla Zana , Hatip Dicle and Orhan Doğan were also charged under this provision. In the end they were convicted as members of an "armed gang" (Article 314 of the new TStG, Article 168 of the old TStG) and were released because of a reduction in the sentence.

The distinction in criminal law between members and supporters has been largely leveled out both by the new criminal law and by model judgments of the Court of Cassation , so that participants in demonstrations as well as members of an armed organization can be punished. It is still dangerous in Turkey to have a dissenting opinion on the Kurdish question or to stand up for the rights of the Kurds. The first penal code of the Turkish Republic (TStG, Law No. 765 of March 1, 1926) was valid until June 1, 2005 and, in Article 142/2, made separatist propaganda (it was referred to as "undermining national sentiment") a criminal offense. These and other provisions of the penal code that curtailed freedom of expression were used extensively after the 1980 military coup. Some of the people who were convicted under Article 142 of the TStG and classified by Amnesty International as non-violent prisoners included: a. the Turkish-born sociologist İsmail Beşikçi , who campaigned for the rights of the Kurds. There have been at least 37 trials against him, with sentences totaling over 76 years.

Act 3713 on the fight against terrorism (the ATG Anti-Terror Act ) of April 1991 deleted four of the often criticized articles from the TStG. However, Article 142 TStG has been replaced by Article 8 ATG practically identically. When the number of convictions against Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for violating the freedom of expression of persons convicted under Article 8 ATG increased, the Committee of Ministers asked Turkey to remedy the situation. Article 8 ATG was abolished with reform package 6 (Law 4928 of 19 July 2003). For this purpose, Article 7/2 ATG (Propaganda for an illegal organization) is being increasingly used.

The proceedings against alleged members of the Union of the Kurdish Communities (KCK) that have been going on since 2009 have also led to criticism from human rights organizations. Several thousand people ( politicians , trade unionists , journalists , academics , human rights activists ) have been charged with being members or supporters of an armed organization without a weapon being found or charged with an armed act. Criticism was also expressed in the European Commission's progress report of October 12, 2011.

In April 2016, Sedat Laçiner stated that there were 11,000 prisoners in Turkey for political reasons, not least academics, journalists and other intellectuals, whereby it is a worldwide unique situation that in Turkey can now also be convicted of terrorism . if even indirectly no relation to political violence is accused. For this purpose, the AKP government invented the term “unarmed terrorism” in 2013 and applied it through case law. Human Rights Watch had already pointed out in a 2013 report that thousands of journalists and activists were imprisoned under the anti-terror laws who had campaigned non-violently for the rights of the Kurds. The Turkish anti-terror laws were and are an obstacle to the creation of visa-free visa-free regime for Turkey in relation to the EU.

literature

  • Hans Krech : The Civil War in Turkey (1978-1999). A manual . Publishing house Dr. Köster, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-89574-360-7 . (= Armed conflicts after the end of the East-West conflict , Volume 6).

Web links

Commons : Kurds in Turkey  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cia.gov: Turkey. , accessed on September 11, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Member of the Bundestag Amke Dietert-Scheuert: Opportunities for conflict resolution in the Turkish Republic. Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-89173-051-9 .
  3. ^ Son Posta of September 21, 1930.
  4. ↑ See: kurdistan.de accessed on December 12, 2008.
  5. ↑ Mesut Yeğen: sorunu Devlet söyleminde Kürt . Istanbul 1999, p. 114
  6. ↑ Udo Steinbach : Turkey in the 20th century. Difficult partner in Europe . Bergisch Gladbach 1996, p. 109
  7. ^ Geoffrey Haig: The Invisibilization of Kurdish, in: Asia and Africa. Contributions from the Center for Asian and African Studies (ZAAS) at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel. Volume 8. Conermann and Haig (eds.): The Kurds. Studies on their language, history and culture. Schenefeld 2004, p. 124
  8. ↑ Stephan Conermann, Geoffrey Haig (Ed.): Asia and Africa . In: Contributions by the Center for Asian and African Studies (ZAAS) at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . Volume 8: The Kurds . Schenefeld 2004, p. 135.
  9. ↑ Verbatim rendering in old Turkish (Ottoman) can be found at nedir.net accessed on December 12, 2008.
  10. ↑ Law No. 2884 of December 25, 1935 on the administration of the Tunceli Vilâyets, RG No. 3195 of January 2, 1936.
  11. ↑ Settlement Act No. 2510 of June 14, 1934, RG No. 2733 of June 21, 1934.
  12. ↑ Christian Rumpf: The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey. (PDF) June 2018, p. 16 , accessed on July 18, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Law No. 2932 of October 19, 1983 on publications in languages ​​other than Turkish, RG No. 18199 of October 22, 1983.
  14. ^ Restrictions On The Use Of The Kurdish Language. Human Rights watch, accessed July 18, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Art. 3 of Law No. 2932: "The mother tongue of Turkish citizens is Turkish. […] Any kind of activity involving the use and dissemination of any mother tongue other than Turkish is prohibited.
  16. ↑ Senem Aslan: Incoherent State: The Controversy over Kurdish Naming in Turkey . Section 15. In: European Journal of Turkish Studies. Social Sciences on Contemporary Turkey . No. 10 , December 29, 2009, ISSN  1773-0546 ( openedition.org [accessed October 14, 2018]).
  17. ↑ Anti-Terror Law No. 3713 of April 12, 1991, RG No. 20843 of April 12, 1991.
  18. ^ Otmar Oehring: On the situation of human rights - Turkey on the way to Europe - freedom of religion? (PDF; 401 kB) In: Menschenrechte. MISSIO, Internationales Katholisches Missionswerk <Aachen>, 2004, archived from the original on December 3, 2013 ; Retrieved February 7, 2013 .
  19. ↑ Human Rights News: Questions and Answers: Freedom of Expression and Language Rights in Turkey . April 2002.
  20. ^ The Turkish Democratic Forum (DTF) has published translations of both ordinances into English under Language Learning and TV and Radio broadcasts ; found on December 12, 2008.
  21. ↑ See the report by Swiss Refugee Aid (SFH) from October 2007 with the title “On the current situation”. Found on December 12, 2008 at http://www.osar.ch/2007/10/03/turkey_2007  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.osar.ch  
  22. ^ Turkey: On the current situation . SFH, October 2007; Complete report  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.osar.ch  
  23. ↑ report. In: Radikal , September 2013; Retrieved July 17, 2015
  24. ↑ Minorities rejoice: Turkey adopts democracy package . In: German-Turkish News (DTN), March 2014; Retrieved July 17, 2015 found at
  25. ↑ Hoybun Örgütü ve Ağrı Ayaklanması (The organization Xoybûn and the Ararat rebellion). Avesta Verlag, ISBN 975-7112-45-3 .
  26. ↑ Article. In: Özgür Gündem , May 20, 2012; Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  27. ↑ The independent network BIA = Bağımsız İletişim Ağı published an interview with Ümit Fırat on August 4, 2007 with the topic: 30 years ago: The Kurds, the Left and DDKO ( Memento of February 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive ); accessed on December 13, 2008.
  28. ↑ Hatip Dicle reports on the preparations for the first participation (taking the oath of office) in a parliamentary session in a page no longer available , search in web archives: Interview with kurdish.info on June 13, 2007 , accessed on December 13, 2008.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.kurdish-info.net
  29. ↑ From the article of the Society for Threatened Peoples Prokurdic parties struggle for democratic rights of February 25, 2007, accessed on December 13, 2008.
  30. ↑ See the message in the daily newspaper Radikal of March 2, 2002, to be found at radikal.com.tr, accessed on December 13, 2008.
  31. ↑ Information designated as biographical can be found in Turkish at biyografi.net, accessed on December 13, 2008.
  32. ↑ The Turkish Democratic Forum (DTF) reports on it at tuerkeiforum.net, accessed on December 13, 2008.
  33. ↑ A report on the 3rd Congress of this movement can be found in Turkish under Kürt Ulusal Demokratie Çalışma Grubu (KUDÇG) 3. Genel Toplantısı'nı gerçekleştirdi dated May 27, 2007; Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  34. ↑ Ankara: BDP has set up party leadership ( Memento from July 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) TurkishPress, February 2, 2010
  35. ↑ KUK and KAWA formed the PYSK (Socialist Unity Party of Kurdistan) in 1996 together with the Tekosin (Revolution, 1978), Yekbun (Unity, 1979) and the TSK (Socialist Movement Kurdistan, 1985)
  36. ↑ The information in this chapter is mainly taken from the work "Turkey" from April 1997, written by Denise Graf and Bülent Kaya for Swiss Refugee Aid.
  37. ↑ İsmet G. İmset: PKK: 20 years of separatist violence (PKK: Ayrılıkçı Şiddetin 20 Yılı (1973–1992)), Ankara, June 1993, p. 67.
  38. ↑ Citing an English-language book Creating the Conditions, The PKK . Ankara, October 1992, İsmet G. İmset names the official number 3,177 people who were charged with separatist offenses after September 12, 1980, p. 83 of his book cited above.
  39. ↑ İsmet G. İmset: PKK: 20 years of separatist violence (PKK: Ayrılıkçı Şiddetin 20 Yılı (1973–1992)). Ankara, June 1993, p. 69.
  40. ↑ Daniel Steinworth: Poisoned Souls . In: Der Spiegel . No. 34 , 2006 ( online ).
  41. ↑ See a documentation on Arte TV from August 15, 2012 arte.tv ( Memento from April 18, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ); Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  42. ↑ The numbers can be found in the Wiki B-Ob8tungen in Turkish on the Extra-Legal Executions (1980–2000) page ; Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  43. ↑ Update Turkey from Swiss Refugee Aid from October 2008, found on December 14, 2008 under Update 2008  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.osar.ch  
  44. ↑ The figures come from a survey by TEPAV (Foundation for Research in Economics and Politics in Turkey) on February 10, 2012. The report is available in Turkish Kim bu dağdakiler? (PDF; 1.2 MB) and English Who are the Armed People on the Mountains.pdf (PDF); Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  45. ↑ After the Dersim uprising of 1937/38, seven people were executed.
  46. ↑ See a list on Belgenet with death penalties that have been submitted to parliament for ratification , a list of mass trials and death penalties and a list of people who have been sentenced to death ; Accessed on October 6, 2012.
  47. ↑ See a list of executions after September 12, 1980 , especially the execution of İlyas Has ; Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  48. ↑ Details on the more difficult life imprisonment can be found on the penal system (Turkey) in the paragraph "Execution of difficult life imprisonment.
  49. ↑ A translation of this criminal offense can be found in extracts from the Turkish criminal law ; Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  50. ↑ The legal background is u. a. explained on the page of solitary confinement for difficult life imprisonment ; Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  51. ↑ Article 168/2 of the old TStG is now Article 314/2 of the new TStG. The previous sentence, between 10 and 15 years, was reduced to 5-10 years in prison. See the report by Helmut Oberdiek: Turkey: Rule of Law Political Processes - Expert Opinion. ( Memento of August 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ; PDF; 785 kB) Telepolis , p. 49
  52. ^ Protesting as a terrorist offense . Human Rights Watch , November 2010; Retrieved October 5, 2012. Summary translation: Demonstrators are turned into terrorists . Democratic Turkey Forum; Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  53. ↑ Examples from the years 2005–2007 can be found in the Wiki B-Ob8ungen on the page Procedure because of Kurdish and deference to Öcalan ; Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  54. ↑ a b See the criticism of a decision by the Ansbach Administrative Court from September 2011; Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  55. ↑ See Amnesty International's 1988 Turkey Campaign and the accompanying report: Turkey - The Denied Human Rights. Bonn 1988, ISBN 3-89290-016-7 or the report in English (in picture form); Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  56. ↑ The information is taken from a page Scientists clash with the State in Turkey ; Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  57. ↑ Background to the Legal System - last update in May 2007 (English); Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  58. ↑ See the short country information for Turkey from 2005 ( Memento from April 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ); Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  59. ↑ See e.g. B. a report from HRW: Turkey: Kurdish Party Members' Trial Violates Rights, April 18, 2011; Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  60. ↑ See on this the reports of the Turkish Democratic Forum on the restriction of the freedom of expression in Turkey or the report proceedings against the Union of the Communities of Kurdistan ; Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  61. ↑ Complete report. (PDF); Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  62. ↑ Abuse Of Anti-Terror Law Is Destroying Turkey's Democracy . Institute of Social and Political Researches (TARK), Ankara. April 24, 2016. Archived from the original on June 8, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  63. ^ Turkey: Terror Laws Undermine Progress on Rights . Human Rights Watch. January 31, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  64. ^ Turkish anti-terror law: Too vague, too little European . Spiegel Online , May 12, 2016; accessed on June 8, 2016