Tamil Eelam

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Territories of Sri Lanka claimed by the Tamil separatists

Tamil Eelam ( Tamil : தமிழீழம் Tamiḻīḻam [ ˈt̪amɨɭ ˈɨːɭʌm ]) is a name for the state called for by Tamil separatists , which should include the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka . During the civil war in Sri Lanka (1983-2009), the rebel organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE ) ruled parts of the area as a de facto regime . Since the end of the civil war, the entire area has been under the control of the Sri Lankan government again.

To the subject

The form "Tamil Eelam" is the English orthography-oriented transcription of the Tamil term தமிழீழம் Tamiḻīḻam . Tamililam means "Tamil Ilam ", whereby the term Ilam is an old Tamil name for the island of Sri Lanka. Their current use has strong political connotations, whereby the expression Tamililam can be roughly compared with the expression " German Bohemia " (for parts of the Czech Republic). The politically neutral and far more common in the non-political Tamil literature Name Sri Lanka, however, is that of Lanka derived expression Ilangai ( இலங்கை Ilankai ).

The etymology of Īḻam is not clear. There may be a connection to the term Sinhala , an ancient Sri Lankan name from which the Sinhalese ethnonym and the name Ceylon are derived. Here Īḻam could be a borrowing from Prakrit sīhala- (< Sanskrit siṃhala ), but the opposite borrowing path is also possible. It is also unclear whether there is an etymological connection to the word īḻam for “ palm wine ”, which is documented in several Dravidian languages .

history

The concept of Tamil Eelam goes back to the organization Tamil United Liberation Front , which in 1976 proposed a separate state for the Tamil population for the first time. After the political conflicts over the constitutional amendment in 1978, with which the central government sought to counter the secessionist efforts, a number of militant organizations emerged that adopted the idea of ​​Tamil Eelam. Like the TULF, they used it to designate the areas of the districts of Jaffna , Kilinochchi , Mullaitivu , Mannar , Puttalam , Trincomalee , Batticaloa and Ampara . Only a minority of the groups, such as the EPRLF , included all areas with a Tamil majority, ie also areas inland where many plantation workers resettled by the British from India to Sri Lanka (see Indian Tamils ​​in Sri Lanka ) live.

Kilinochchi courthouse under LTTE administration (2005)

The separatist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forced the separation of this area from the central government. She referred to the part of the island that she controlled as Tamil Eelam . In particular, the north of the island was no longer under the control of the central government, but was de facto quasi-independent; in any case, there are separate institutions of the judiciary, administration, central bank, military, etc. The sovereignty of these occupied areas was neither from the government in Colombo nor from the government in Colombo Recognized by some member of the UN , and they continued to rely on Sri Lanka for goods, electricity and transport (for example, there was no airport of their own). The Sri Lankan rupee was currency in the LTTE controlled areas. The only area almost completely controlled by the LTTE was the historic Vanni region of the Northern Province, which includes the northern tip of the country excluding the Jaffna Peninsula . Its southern border runs in the west from the Mannar naval base via the district capital Vavuniya in the center and in the east to the small army base Punani , all of which are under the influence of the government and have occasionally been the target of attacks by the LTTE.

After Sri Lanka's army was able to take the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi and important bases of the rebels in early January 2009 , it was also able to take control of the strategically important elephant pass. On January 25, 2009, Mullaitivu was captured by the Sri Lankan army. The LTTE thus lost its last controlled city. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa officially declared the civil war over on May 19, 2009. The day before, the entire leadership of the LTTE had been killed.

Independence referendums

After the military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE ) in early 2009, various Tamil organizations conducted surveys among Tamils ​​living in western foreign countries as to whether they were in favor of an independent Tamil state on the island of Lanka . The content of these polls is close to the Vaddukoddai resolution of 1976. In these polls, which were combined with a vote, a majority of the participants expressed their support for an independent state.

So far, the votes have been carried out in Norway, France, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Denmark and Italy. These surveys demonstrate the sentiment of the participants, but do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about a majority opinion. A statistical survey of the number and distribution of expatriate Tamils ​​is not available for comparison and numbers on survey participation are not published. Furthermore, the right to participate in the vote included Tamil native speakers of Sri Lanka as well as their spouses - regardless of nationality. Descendants of such a connection were also entitled to vote regardless of nationality. The authorization was not checked on site. Voter lists were not drawn up. Participation in the election was documented with an ink mark on the index finger of the participants.

Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is an internationally unrecognized transnational government, which is supposed to represent the Tamil diaspora of Sri Lanka (or from the Tamil area; Tamil Eelam). It has no seat in a specific country. The so-called parliament was elected at the beginning of May 2010 and has 135 parliamentarians. The idea was conceived after the LTTE's military defeat in 2009. The chairman of the Advisory Committee (TGTE) was Visvanthan Rudrakumaran (lawyer from the LTTE political wing).

Sports

The Tamileelam Football Association has existed since 2012 and aims to represent the people of Tamil Eelam in football.

literature

  • Stokke, K. (2006). Building the Tamil Eelam State: Emerging State Institutions and Forms of Governance in LTTE-Controlled Areas in Sri Lanka. Third World Quarterly, pp. 1021-1040.

Web links

Commons : Tamil Eelam  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ T. Burrow: A Dravidian etymological dictionary. 2nd ed., Clarendon Press, Oxford (Oxfordshire) 1984, ISBN 0-19-864326-8 , DEDR 469.
  2. ↑ Peter Schalk: "Robert Caldwell's Derivation īlam <sīhala: A Critical Assessment", in: Jean-Luc Chevillard (Ed.): South-Indian Horizons: Felicitation Volume for François Gros on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Pondichéry: Institut Français de Pondichéry, 2004. pp. 347-364.
  3. ↑ DEDR 468.
  4. ↑ Sri Lanka's army takes control of an important passport ( Memento from January 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), www.dw-world.de, January 9, 2009
  5. ↑ The army's offensive against the LTTE Sri Lanka reports conquest of the "rebel capital" ( Memento from February 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Sri Lanka: Official End of the Civil War , in: Focus Online , May 19, 2009
  7. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from March 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ SReferendum calls for independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka , www.thestar.com 23 March 2010 at
  9. ↑ Swiss Tamils ​​want their own state , www.20min.ch, March 23, 2010
  10. ↑ 99% assent Tamil Eelam in overwhelming turn out of 31,000 in France , www.tamilnet.com, March 23, 2010
  11. ↑ see survey results of the survey in Canada
  12. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of March 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ http://www.tamilelection.ch/englisch/rules.html