Author: Hovhannisian John

THE ARMENIAN TEAM REMAINED IN THE SAME SUBGROUP

Aysor
May 5 2010
Armenia

The games of the 2 subgroup of the "Fed Cup" championship in "Orange
Tennis" club have been finished. The games had kicked off later
than they had to because of the rainy weather and were held with an
irregular graphic.

The participating teams were rather strong. The Armenian team will
have the opportunity to appear in the 2nd subgroup next year because
of the victory it took. The best results of in the tournament were
after the teams of Greece and Luxemburg, which will play in the first
subgroup next year. The teams of Norway and South Africa are left
out from the 2nd subgroup.

Wed, May 5, 2010

Denial, Anger and a Bunch of Mountains in Azerbaijan – Acceptance, That’s
Several Steps Later

Nicholas Clayton

Nicholas Clayton lives in Tbilisi, Georgia and works as a professor of
journalism and a freelance reporter covering the Caucasus. Having studied
NATO-Russian relations at Hertzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia in
2007, Clayton began blogging about the geo-politics …

Last September, Slate columnist Christopher Hitchens wrote that "engaging
with Iran is like having sex with someone who hates you." If that’s true,
then the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process is something like an orgy
of mutually despising interlocutors, each only agreeing to do it in the one
position the other one hates.

With that visual in mind, it shouldn’t be surprising that after a year of
back-and-forths and ups and downs the process came to a screeching halt last
month as Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced he was "suspending"
discussion of the reconciliation protocols – a move that was
enthusiastically welcomed by his constituents.

But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean it’s back to the silent game.

Although the highly touted reconciliation protocols are considered to be an
important part of U.S. President Barack Obama’s foreign policy ambitions in
Europe, the move to freeze the discussions was telegraphed by insiders well
in advance and has even been endorsed publicly by administration officials.

Why? Because few seem to have expected it to get this far the first place.
The Turkish-Armenian relationship is fraught with unresolved baggage mostly
surrounding denial, anger and a bunch of mountains in Azerbaijan.

Sargsyan’s announcement came 48 hours before the day that Armenians regard
as the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide – a nearly decade long
pogrom of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire that killed an estimated
1.5 million people. Twenty countries and 44 U.S. states recognize the events
that occurred from 1915-1923 as genocide, and Armenians have been upset by
their government’s efforts to improve relations with Turkey without forcing
Ankara to recognize past crimes.

The last time Turkey and Armenia recognized one another diplomatically was a
brief period after the fall of the Soviet Union until 1993, when their
already rocky relationship hit a new low over Armenia’s support for ethnic
Armenian separatists in the Nagorno Karabakh (Russian for Mountainous or
Highland Karabakh) region in neighboring Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally. Armenia
continues to occupy Nagorno Karabakh as well as other Azeri territory and
the two nations remain in a state of war.

In the end, despite the unprecedented nature of the breakthrough that led to
these talks, first announced in April 2009, neither side has been a
particularly considerate to each other’s needs, and it’s not surprising both
are saying they now need a break from each other.

The preexisting gripes quickly reclaimed the focus of the discussion not
long after it started; denial, anger and a bunch of mountains in Azerbaijan.
In the initial aftermath of this most recent hiccup in the dialogue, it’s
not difficult to feel like both sides took one step forward and two steps
backward. In March, after Sweden and the U.S. House Foreign Relations
Committee recognized the Armenian Genocide, Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan told the BBC that he was considering deporting 100,000 Armenians he
claimed were living in Turkey illegally.

However, many observers see genuine progress amid the habitually fiery
rhetoric. Davit Alaverdyan, the chief editor of Media Max News Agency in
Armenia said that while he feels it is difficult to see where the process
will lead from here, he thinks both sides have made achievements through the
past year’s bickering – first and foremost that the two sides were talking
at all.

But there’s more to it than that.

When Obama gave a speech on the anniversary of the genocide last April using
the phrase "Medz Yeghern" – the Armenian word for the genocide, meaning
"Great Massacres" – he was falling short of using the G-word like he
promised during his campaign for president, but nonetheless pleased many on
both sides.

Suat Kiniklioglu, a member of the Turkish parliament and spokesman of the
Turkish Foreign Affairs Commission from the ruling Justice and Development
party told Media Max in an interview at the time, "I believe that "Medz
Yeghern" is an invaluable term for a positive language about the events of
1915. "Medz Yeghern" is a term whose scope should be widened. World War I
and the events leading to the war, namely the physical removal of Turks and
Muslims from the Caucasus, the Balkans and the Middle East was a Great
Catastrophe for us as well. Turks, Kurds and Armenians in the eastern front
of the empire truly experienced a Great Catastrophe […] The Armenians lost
their homes and property and had to leave Anatolia. There were many deaths
and it was an immensely sad chapter of this region’s history […] I hope
that when we establish diplomatic relations, open borders and when our
peoples get the chance of direct communication with each other, we will be
able to elaborate positive wordings."
It’s certain that there is no consensus for movement towards genocide
recognition in Turkey – it remains illegal to insult the Turkish nation or
ethnicity, a law that has been invoked to prosecute Turks calling for
genocide recognition.

But Armenians continue to point to various signs that an internal dialogue
within Turkey about its hard past is beginning. A few hundred Turkish
artists and intellectuals marched in Istanbul commemorating the 95th
anniversary of the genocide this year chanting "never again." Also,
information security analyst and blogger, Samvel Martirosyan pointed out
that new Turkish directives to its diplomats encourage them to engage with
Armenian communities abroad and publicly discuss and debate the facts of
1915-1923.

All of this he said shows things are moving, albeit so slowly it’s hard to
actually see it. Meanwhile, Alaverdyan said in a Media Max report that the
temporary freeze with Turkey will give Armenia more time to devote to
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict while still appearing to be the
one committed to the process.

While no one is quite sure when, eventually the orgy of malice and mistrust
will be in full swing again in the near future.

MORE TURKS CALL FOR REASSESSMENT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Sandy Smith

HULIQ.com
May 3 2010
SC

A retired Turkish military judge and a columnist for Turkey’s largest
newspaper have added their voices to the small but growing number
of influential Turks who are calling on their country to formally
acknowledge its responsibility for the massacre of millions of
Armenians in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire."

In a detailed historical essay in the May 2 edition of Today’s Zaman,
Turkey’s largest English-language daily, retired military judge Umit
KardaÅ~_ suggests that Turks should condemn the actions of the "Young
Turk" government that led to the death march of 1915, an effort to
rid the country of its Christian population, most notably the large
Armenian minority that made up just about all of the Ottoman merchant
and professional class.

KardaÅ~_’ essay argues that the ethnic cleansing of the country’s
Christian populations was a betrayal of the early principles
of the "Young Turk" party, the Committee of Union and Progress,
and that Turkey remains a morally stunted country because of its
unwillingness to fully acknowledge the wrongs committed in 1915-16. "No
justification…can be offered for this human tragedy," he wrote. "No
technical term [like "genocide"] is vast enough to contain these
incidents, which are indescribable."

Kardas’ essay comes on the heels of a column by Mustafa Akyol in the
English-language edition of Hurriyet, Turkey’s largest newspaper,
calling on Turkey to express remorse for the Armenian slaughter on
grounds of Islamic morality. Citing some Muslim muftis in Turkish
provincial towns who opposed the forced deportations out of fear
of the wrath of Allah, he wrote, "Those God-fearing individuals, I
believe, were the best of my nation in 1915. And now more of us are
remembering their spirit, and even joining them in their tears." In
a followup column responding to widespread criticism of his first
essay, he defended his view by first dismissing the standard Turkish
explanations of the genocide as a defensive reaction, then saying,
"The fact that we Turks also suffered should not make us blind and
indifferent to the suffering on the other side, whose proportions are
undoubtedly much larger. The fact that we remember and honor our own
dead, in other words, should not prevent us from feeling mercy and
remorse for the hundreds of thousands of perished Armenians."

* Turkish Newspaper on Armenian Genocide: We Made A Terrible Mistake

Both writers back recent efforts to normalize relations between modern
Turkey and modern Armenia, including reopening the border between
the two countries with no preconditions. Turkey objects to Armenia’s
control of a portion of neighboring Azerbaijan that has an Armenian
majority; Akyol argued that this should not override the need for
remembrance and contrition.

As one respondent to the followup column wrote, "The debate [on the
Armenian genocide] is always twisted in Turkey. But at least it is
now opened."

SONG TOUCHING ‘THE ARMENIAN QUESTION’ BANNED

Freemuse
sp
May 3 2010

Eileen Khatchadourian’s music video ‘Zartir Vortyag’ which touches
on Armenian topics is reported to have been banned by the Lebanese
General Security

In the music video a mother is seen calling upon her son to go and
fight the enemy, and it also includes the quote The Armenian and The
Armenian by William Saroyan.

Lebanese officials are said to be afraid of offending the Turkish
Ambassador to Lebanon fearing that Turkish-Lebanese relations will be
affected with the video, since the debate about Armenian minority,
and especially the discussions over the killing of Armenians in the
beginning of the 1900s, is a very sensitive topic in Turkey.

ARMROBOTICS OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN MAY 28

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 3, 2010 – 17:05 AMT 12:05 GMT

ArmRobotics open championship will be held in Yerevan on May 28.

As ArmRobotics manager Mariam Nahapetyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter, Minesweeper Robot contest will host 15 youth teams with
Armenian and Iran’s Armenian Diaspora representatives as participants.

As she noted, competition theme was offered by HALO Trust,
non-political, non-religious registered British charity and American
non-profit organization whose purpose is to remove the debris left
behind by war, in particular, landmines and unexploded ordnance.

The goal of Minesweeper Robot is to send minefield map to the server
though WiFi, radio transmitters or flash carriers, upon discovering
mines in the assigned area.

1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be awarded AMD 250, 150, 100
thousand respectively.

UITE’s Arm Robotics championship was first held in Armenia in 2008.

ARMENIANS COMMEMORATE GENOCIDE 95 YEARS LATER
Natasha G.

Care2.com
ghts/blog/armenians-commemorate-genocide-95-years- later/
May 3 2010

This year marks the 95th anniversary of the mass murders and expulsion
of Armenians from Turkey. While the Turkish government claims a total
of 300,000 died, Armenia estimates 1.5 million died.

Last week, tens of thousands of people in the capital of Yerevan
walked up the steep hill to the national memorial to lay flowers
around its eternal flame. With President Serzh Sarkisian present,
the Armenian Orthodox Church led a commeorative service.

There has been a longstanding controversy behind this event, as Turkey
is unwilling to call it a genocide. A genocide, as described in the
UN Convention on Genocide, is when acts are carried out "to destroy,
in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."

Turkey claims that there was no plan to systematically eliminate
Armenians, and that innocent Turks were causalities as well.

On a political level, relations between Turkey and Armenia remain
tense. They both signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations
in October 2009, but it has since faltered.

However Al-Jazeera reports that in Istanbul citizens gathered to
remember the tragedy. "It is an unusual event…it is a measure of
the degree to which the ability to discuss the issues here in Turkey
has freed up, " said correspondent Anita McNaught. "They have come
here as Turks and Armenians, and relatives of Armenians living in
Turkey sitting side by side."

GAS SUPPLY TO ARMENIA NOT RESUMED YET

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 3, 2010 – 15:15 AMT 10:15 GMT

Natural gas supply to Armenia has not been resumed yet, a spokesperson
for ArmRosGazprom CJSC said.

"We do not have additional information about certain date of gas
supply resumption," Shushan Sardaryan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

A landslide in a high-altitude region of the Northern Caucasus damaged
the gas main on April 28. According to ArmRosGazprom, the internal
market needs will be satisfied without limitation due to reserves of
the underground gas storage.

Earlier, it was reported that the pipeline repair works will take
about three days.

Dar Al-Hayat, Lebanon
May 2 2010

If You Fail, You Fail Alone

Sun, 02 May 2010
Jihad el-Khazen

Everyone wants to succeed. However, I discovered through personal
experience and painstaking observation that success is overrated or
undeservedly glorified.

If you succeed, you pay more taxes, your relatives increase in number,
you succumb to temptations that contradict health, ethics and religion
` but which are otherwise only available to wealthy people. You fear
thieves, you worry about your health and you stop eating what you
like, your wife becomes more demanding, you become concerned about
your children being influenced by bad company and drugs, the house’s
fence becomes higher (perhaps with some barbwire on top too), and you
install cameras on the fence, the house’s gates and the back entrance.

However, if you fail, you fail alone, and people leave you be.

I am writing at the backdrop of a gathering I had with some friends in
London, in which we gossiped about some other friends who were abroad,
and went over our lifetimes together, and over who succeeded and who
failed.

Every Arab who is not a doctor or an engineer is supposedly a failure.
Since I was a teenager, and till today, the measure of success is
entering medical school or engineering school. However, I was never
fit for either and claimed that I did not want to enter them at any
rate, because my cousin was a doctor while my other cousins are
engineers, and that this was more than enough in one family. Also, I
said that the majority of engineering students at the American
University in Beirut were Armenian, and that I had so many Armenian
friends that I did not need any more.

Of course, I am justifying here my personal failure and the family’s
disappointment in its son who did not graduate as a doctor or an
engineer. However, my excuse was exposed and not accepted by my
friends, and one of them criticized me and claimed that I dishearten
the nation’s resolve with my constant criticism and talk about the
failures of the Arabs and Muslims, whether they try or not.

I do not think that the nation needs any further disheartening from me
for it to fail, because failure has become a part of its air, water,
flesh and blood, just like avarice became a second nature to the
residents of Mrou. Even the rooster there, as Al-Jahiz claimed, would
pick grains and compete with hens in eating them, instead of offering
those grains to the chicken like roosters do everywhere else.

Ever since Tariq bin Ziyad first crossed the sea to Andalusia in 91 AH
(711 AD), we have been losing the capital that we built in less than
one hundred years after the message and the conquests. For the
reader’s information, the same small island, on which Tariq and his
men landed off the coast of Iberia has been devoured by the Sea, and
it no longer exists today. Then Andalusia was lost along with
everything else in 1300 years of our ongoing downfall.

At any rate, general failure, or the failure of the nation, did not
help it relax. On the contrary, it made usurpers and both close and
faraway nations covet it.

But today, I want to talk about individual failure, which I find
better than success. In fact, I am saying nothing new here, as there
is a popular saying in the Levant [which loosely translated as]: no
money, no problems.

I know a story of relevance about a woman who was on her way home from
shopping. She came across a homeless man who asked her for some money.
She said that she is afraid he might spend it on spirits, but he said
that he does not drink. She then said that he might spend it shopping
but again, he answered that he has not been to a store in years. She
then said that he might spend it on grooming and accessorizing, to
which he answered that these things are the last things on his mind.
At this point, the woman asked the homeless man to go with her and
have dinner with her and her husband at their home. He said that he
looks terrible and his smell is foul. She answered: I want my husband
to see what someone who does not spend all their money on spirits,
shopping and make-up looks like.

After the gathering with my friends, I compared between success and
failure, the advantage of the one over the other, and whether I should
write about this subject. I would have perhaps refrained from doing
so, had it not been for the fact that I read the New Yorker magazine.
I usually start from the beginning with the small snippets about
Broadway shows. The name of one play caught my attention, which was
`The Success of Failure (or, the Failure of Success)’, written by
Cynthia Hopkins, and this play was the last instalment in a trilogy
also written by her.

I inevitably know a little about Miss Hopkins as she is a singer,
songwriter, dancer, actress and playwright. Yet, she complains about
failure, although if she succeeds in only one of those careers that
would be enough, let alone the fact that she made it in Broadway,
which means that she is already a resounding success. I read that she
complained that her alcoholism in her twenties meant that large chunks
of her memories are missing, and that she misses being young and wild.

Come visit us, miss, and you will be up to your ears in both youthful
and old wildness.

ndah/136937

news.am, Armenia
May 1 2010

In depth of recession we did utmost to hold workplaces: RA President

12:06 / 05/01/2010RA President Serzh Sargsyan addressed the nation on
the occasion of the International Workers’ Day. NEWS.am posts the full
text.

`Dear compatriots, I congratulate you on the International Workers’
Day. This holiday is called to exalt the honest work and the workmen,
as well as assist the protection of workers’ rights.

These are the issues, that are directed connected with economy of the
country. Global recession affected also Armenia. Armenian authorities
made and carry on taking the steps directed towards minimization of
negative consequences of the crisis and stimulate and incite prompt
recovery. In this period we put an emphasis on the social sector and
dud utmost for holding the workplaces. The state has strictly met its
commitments on social repayments and wages.

Economic indicators in these months of the year are higher than
expected, which means that economic growth will provide new jobs and
increase of living standards.

I congratulate you on this May 1 holiday once again, with certainty
that our industrious nation will continue its path of building and
constructive creativity of the motherland.’

S.T.

ZUBEYIR AYDAR: ‘MILITARY OPERATIONS ARE GOING TO BEGIN’

Kurdish Aspect
ml
Kurdishaspect.com
April 29 2010

Why an interview with Zubeyir Aydar?

The proposed constitutional changes are being discussed and debated
all over Turkey. If these changes are realized, it’ll be the first
time in this country that the coup constitution’s legal system has
been touched. It’ll open the door to the distribution of "fairness"
in the justice system. The civil bureaucracy’s tutelage will be filed
away. But in Turkey, good news can never completely dominate the public
agenda. Alongside positive developments, there are definitely negative
ones. While the untouchability of the foundation of the coup’s legal
system is being debated, news of military buildups is coming from
the southeast. In Kandil, Murat Karayılan is saying he’s going to
be assassinated. These are all signals that the situation is becoming
more tense and that there’s a serious clash taking place.

So, what’s happening? How do the PKK and KCK see the situation? Is an
atmosphere of heavy clashes characterized by the explosion of bombs
and mines, military maneuvers, and the deaths of youths being entered
again? What’s the PKK’s attitude toward the constitutional reforms?

I spoke about all of this in Belgium with Zubeyir Aydar, who was
arrested in the operation carried out in that country and recently
left prison.

Zubeyir Aydar, who was a DEP member of parliament and went abroad the
day that party was shut down and has lived in Europe for sixteen years,
talked about how he sees the situation, his expectations, and, from
his own point of view, under what conditions peace could be possible.

***

NeÅ~_e Duzel: Did you think there was a possibility you’d be arrested,
or was it a surprise for you?

Zubeyir Aydar: I wasn’t expecting anything like this. It was a
surprise, for sure. I’m not involved in any activities that violate
the laws of this country.

ND: On the basis of which crime where you arrested?

ZA: The European Union added the PKK to its list of terrorist
organizations in the year 2002. What they’re saying is that "the
PKK is on the list of terrorist organizations; you’re involved
in activities as a leader of a terror organization’s subsidiary
institution." Generally, they’re saying the same thing to all of
us; they’re not leveling charges by saying to us ‘you’ve done this,
you’ve done that’ one by one. For allegations they’re saying "you’ve
established camps in Europe, gathered youth together and educated them,
and collected money from Kurds."

ND: So with which justification did they subsequently release you?

ZA: The court didn’t find the claims of the police credible. I’m
a member of the legal profession. More than twenty people were
detained. Everyone was asked general questions. Seven of us were
taken in. We were released awaiting trial three weeks later.

Actually this is an investigation…it’s not clear yet if a lawsuit
will be opened against us. The investigation is continuing.

ND: What did they ask you when you were in police custody?

ZA: They asked questions about Roj TV, Mesopotamia Radio, and the
organizational activities in Belgium. My statement to the police was
very brief. After that we went before the judge. He asked similar
questions. I realized that they intended to arrest us, I didn’t give
a statement. Because they said things like "we have the authority
to take you into custody." I said, "I don’t have a lawyer, I’m
not giving a statement." After that we went to another court where
they deal with arrests. Lawyers defended us and we also defended
ourselves. The arrest warrant with claims such as that we educated
youth and collected money from Kurds came after all of this.

ND: In your view, what was the real cause of your arrest?

ZA: This is a completely political operation. Somewhere a decision
to take us in was made and these accusations were leveled in order
to enable our detention. In other words a case file was put together
with political justifications.

ND: Is the political conjuncture in Europe changing?

ZA: Fundamentally, all of these events are developments that have taken
place in the period following the bilateral meeting that occurred
between American President Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan
on 5 November 2007 at the White House. At that meeting, Bush said
that the PKK is the enemy of America, Iraq, and Turkey.

ND: The former Deputy Secretary of MIT, Cevat Ones, has said that
a decision to eliminate the PKK was taken immediately after that
meeting. In your opinion, was it a decision to eliminate the PKK that
was taken at that meeting?

ZA: Sure, there’s something of that nature. Among themselves they have
such a decision concerning elimination. The center of this project
is America. Information is coming from Turkey. They’re giving lists
to America. Turkey’s saying "I’m uncomfortable with these actions,
I’m uncomfortable with these institutions." America’s also applying
pressure in certain EU member countries and in certain areas. In this
way some of the European countries are taking action with America’s
mediation. All of this is being done for Ankara.

ND: In Turkey, for a while Kurdish politicians have been being arrested
in groups under the name of the "KCK operation". In Europe is it a
KCK operation parallel to the one in Turkey that’s been initiated?

ZA: Of course, an operation of that sort has been carried out. For
the last year, all of these operations have been carried out as a
continuation, one after another. Military operations are going to
come following this. Remember.

ND: Remember what?

ZA: An election was held last year on March 29th and despite the
support of the entire state and army, at the ballot box the AKP wasn’t
able to get the result it wanted. And on April 14th operations began
with the police. Thousands of people have been taken in and they still
continue to be taken. The name given to this is the "KCK operation"
and all of the people being arrested are members of a political party
or organization. In the past people would be taken in on the basis that
they were involved with the PKK, now they’re taken in because they’re
said to be involved with the KCK. Turkey has taken in seven or eight
thousand people in the last year. Half of them are still in prison.

ND: What is the KCK?

ZA: It’s our general aggregation of the movement. In Turkish it means
Kurdistan Topluluklar Birligi [roughly, Kurdistan Communities Union],
it’s something like a union of assemblies. It has an assembly. This
assembly is Kongra-Gel. Furthermore, within Kongra-Gel there’s an
elected executive council. At the moment I’m a member of it. In the
past, everything was the PKK.

ND: What is everything now?

ZA: Everything now is the KCK.

ND: Is the KCK above the PKK?

ZA: Yes, the PKK is a limited segment within the movement which is
given the name KCK.

ND: In this situation is it you and your colleagues who are at the
highest position?

ZA: Abdullah Ocalan takes the highest position. After that there’s
the Asssembly, and following that the Executive Council.

ND: In other words, you and your colleagues are at the top.

ZA: Yes. The chairman of the 31-member Executive Council is Murat
Karayılan.

ND: Getting back to the operations in Europe… Not only in Belgium,
there were also arrests in France and Italy, and these occurred at the
same time. Doesn’t this make you think that there’s a common attitude?

ZA: Of course it does. First it began in France. Subsequently it
reached Italy and then Belgium. All of these are related to each other.

ND: Comparing past approaches to the PKK [and current ones to the]
KCK in Europe, what sorts of differences emerge?

ZA: Western countries changed their laws following the attacks on the
twin towers on 11 September 2001 and the bombings in Spain. Although
Islamic groups were targeted more [often], everyone was impacted by
this change. Certain things happened to us, too. Also, as I said at
the beginning, developments sped up following the 2007 Bush-Erdogan
meeting. For example…

ND: Yes…

ZA: In the case file about us it says "we’ve been following you for
three years." Because political and commercial bargains — such as
sending troops to Afghanistan and buying Airbus planes from France
— are being made in certain places. For example, an operation was
carried out against us one month ago, on March 04. On the fourth of
March, the Armenian resolution was being discussed in the Foreign
Affairs Commission of the American Congress. They pressured Turkey
from one side, and from another calmed it down. In exchange for
the acceptance of the Armenian resolution, they said "here you go,
an operation in Belgium".

ND: Isn’t it possible that Europe decided not to support any armed
struggle following the September 11th attacks?

ZA: Europe never supported our armed struggle. Also, the claims
European countries made about us aren’t correct. Here, we’re not part
of armed activity. In this country we’re within legal frameworks. My
work is politics and diplomacy.

ND: How will it affect your power if Europe adopts a posture against
the PKK and KCK?

ZA: Europe has, in any case, accepted such a posture and since
2002 they’ve put the PKK on the list of terror organizations. But
here’s the thing. In Europe, governments aren’t everything. In Europe
there’s public opinion, there are courts. There are laws. Above all,
as operations like these are carried out, people are rallying around
us. In Europe, people who haven’t established relations with us
for years are coming and asking us to give them tasks to carry out,
asking us what they can do. In the past, the most people we’d gather at
marches and meetings would be one-thousand. An operation was carried
out against us and the next day ten-thousand people marched. Turkey
is doing things incorrectly. For instance, as long as its looked at
through a security perspective, this problem can’t be solved.

ND: Do you think Europe’s begun to look at the Kurdish issue as a
security problem?

ZA: Europe’s bargaining. They’re bargaining with Turkey off of our
backs. These countries have interests and are making bids not only
in the Middle East, but everywhere.

ND: If Europe adopts a posture against the PKK and KCK, could there
be a change in your politics?

ZA: No. Our politics are very clear. Our politics are oriented toward
a democratic, peaceful solution. Here we work within the framework
of the law.

ND: America also added you to its list of "drug traffickers". Why
did it do that, in your opinion?

ZA: This is completely immoral. On 14 October 2009 three well-known
names were added to the list. Myself, Murat Karayılan, and Rıza
Altun. It wasn’t enough to add the PKK to the terror list, this
was also done. They’re calling this the "Al Capone method". They’re
thinking, "the mafia leader Al Capone was guilty. There were certain
things we were unable to implicate him in. [So] we got him with tax
evasion [instead]. Let’s level these ones with the charge of drug
smuggling."

ND: What will the results be of America claiming you’re involved in
criminal activity?

ZA: I’d have to be in prison now if this was believed in Europe. But
then there’s an established legal system in Europe. In these countries,
not everything goes the way the governments want them to.

In these countries there are law and conscience.

ND: How have Turkey’s EU membership bid and revisions to certain laws
influenced Europe’s view of the PKK and KCK?

ZA: They’ve influenced it negatively. Although the AKP hasn’t taken
serious steps on democratization and resolving the Kurdish issue,
they do propaganda on these topics in Europe very well. In reality,
the AKP — which has been the ruling party for eight years —
doesn’t intend to resolve the Kurdish issue. I’m not defending the
Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors, the Constitutional Court,
the Ergenekon members embedded in those organizations or their fellow
travelers. I’m against all of them, because my friends and I were
the ones who were harmed the most by this Ergenekon organization,
but with this constitutional reform package the AKP is only trying
to make changes they need for themselves.

ND: Is the weakening of the military’s and judiciary’s tutelage in
this country something that only the AKP needs, in your opinion?

ZA: Fine…I wish that were the case. There’s nothing acceptable
about the 1982 constitution whatsoever, but the AKP’s not [even]
removing the ten percent election threshold.

ND: Won’t you support the constitutional reforms if the election
threshold isn’t reduced? Is the BDP going to side with the CHP and
MHP in the referendum?

ZA: It’s not about siding with someone. The AKP isn’t sitting and
negotiating with the BDP. In Turkey a very serious constitutional
reform is necessary. It’s not valid to use a marginal change to muffle
all requests for reforms.

ND: The current situation with the judiciary one of the biggest
problems for the Kurds, isn’t it? Is it only a problem for Turks?

ZA: It’s definitely also our issue. The system needs to change. This
is also in the interests of the Kurds, but I’m talking about the
AKP’s intention. There’s no ten percent election threshold anywhere
in the world.

ND: True…

ZA: Look… The AKP’s been the ruling party for seven years. It hasn’t
even abolished the village guard system, which is sunken in crime.

Turkey still hasn’t been able to come to a situation where the Kurds’
existence is accepted. The point where it’s said that "in this country,
there’s a people called the Kurdish people; they have rights" still
hasn’t been reached. Turkey still perceives Kurds as a folkloric
element. It sees [Kurds] as a sub-identity of Turkish identity. It’s
trying to assimilate everything within the monolithic one nation
concept. In this situation, the AKP is presenting itself to the outside
as if it’s made changes. The AKP is talking about an opening but it
still doesn’t want to accept Kurds as political representatives.

ND: Why do half of the Kurds vote for the AKP, in your opinion? How
do you explain this situation?

ZA: The state, not the AKP, has a base in Kurdistan. It has village
guards and institutional relationships. These people vote for the
AKP. Yesterday’s supporters of the CHP, DYP, and ANAP are all now
with the AKP. As for Europe.. They’re very open for persuasion on
the topic of Turkey. Because now America and Europe are supporting
the AKP against the army. AKP emerged like a type of American project.

The army was central in America’s policy during the cold war.

ND: Isn’t it like that now?

ZA: In Turkey, America doesn’t now need a militarist administration
and the Turkish army like it did in the past. That’s why they’re
saying "change" to the army. What America needs now is a moderate
Islam like the AKP’s in opposition to al-Qaida, Hizbullah, Hamas,
and Iran. It’s trying to submit this as a model and for that reason
it’s calling its relationship with Turkey a "model partnership".

ND: Today, the PKK is continuing an armed struggle. It’s also stating
that it doesn’t have a goal like separating from Turkey. Given that,
what’s the goal of the armed struggle?

ZA: This struggle has been going on for twenty-six years. We can’t
act like these 26 years haven’t passed. What’s happened during these
twenty-six years is a reality. Right now there are thousands of people
in the mountains, in prisons, and in exile in Europe; these people
are also a reality. We’re saying, "come, let’s find a solution to
these matters".

ND: What do you recommend?

ZA: We’re not insisting on an armed struggle. We want to debate and
negotiate this with Turkey. The political road should be opened to
us. If the political road is opened to us with our own identities,
in that case the weapons will exit the stage. We’re not insisting,
"we’re going to settle everything with guns, we’re going to do this
and that to the Turkish army, we’re going to this, we’re going to
establish liberated zones". This stuff existed in the past. That was
the order of the world. Didn’t you also go through the cold war?

Didn’t you also read those theories? Weren’t we all shaped by those
theories? Now, the world’s changed. We’ve also changed, and we’re
changing.

ND: You’re saying, "the world changed. If the way to civilian
politics is opened, we’re prepared to lay down the weapons" but
whenever there’s an attempt to open the way to politics in Turkey,
if steps are going to be taken on the road to democracy, and if the
present military system starts to be weakened, the PKK increases
attacks and actions with bombs and mines. It was always like this
during the acceleration of the EU [accession] process and when a
civil constitution was being prepared. Is it because the PKK is
negatively influenced by democratization that there’s this kind of
skewed relationship between the PKK and democracy?

ZA: No, it’s not like that. There’s been a unilateral ceasefire since
05 December 2008. But the army began an operation on March 30th.

Over the last year thousands of people have been taken in during the
KCK operations. Despite all this, we prepared a road map concerning
the Kurdish opening. We gathered views from people here and forwarded
them to our president. He also wrote something and then gave it
to the state. But the state confiscated this road map, it didn’t
announce it to public opinion. After that we sent peace groups to
the country. [People] were outraged because Kurds were a little happy.

The DTP was closed. Mayors were taken in. Now they’re also carrying
out operations against us in Belgium. There are also military maneuvers
happening all over the place.

ND: What do you mean?

ZA: These soldiers aren’t going on picnics. News of deaths is coming.

Turkey isn’t drawing near a solution. Operations are sharply increasing
everywhere. We’re defending ourselves. I’m afraid that a period of
heavy clashes has been entered.

Interview with NeÅ~_e Duzel of Taraf newspaper. Original text published
on April 05, 2010