Press Release

June 9, 1997

Telephone: (202) 483-6444

Jailing of Kurdish Party Leaders Shows the Absence of “Democracy” in Turkey

On Wednesday, June 4, 31 members of the Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP) in Turkey, including its chairman Murat Bozlak, were sentenced to as many as 6 years in jail for alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a guerrilla movement fighting for improved social, political, and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey.

This is the most recent incident in the Turkish government's continual effort to prevent any democratic or peaceful resolution to the "Kurdish question" from occurring in Turkey.  It is also the first step in the Turkish government's effort to ban HADEP, just as the government banned HADEP's predecessors, DEP in 1994 and HEP in 1993, and expelled 13 DEP Parliamentarians, jailing 6 of them for their "separatist speech."

Though HADEP has never advocated violence or outright separatism, the Turkish government insists it serves as a front organization for the PKK. Instead, HADEP serves as an outlet for those Kurds who seek not to bear arms but rather a peaceful and democratic resolution to the increasingly violent Turkish-Kurdish conflict.

Since 1984, military conflict has taken the lives of more than 30,000 people, has destroyed 3,100 Kurdish villages, and has displaced 3 million Kurds within Turkey.

Kurds peacefully seeking the same basic human rights granted to so much of the world's population have as their only option the HADEP party. And now, in conjunction with the military's efforts to fight the PKK in the mountains of Kurdistan, the Turkish government has initiated an effort to shut down this last alternative for peace.

The jailing of 31 members of HADEP starkly contrasts the Turkish governmentÕs proclamations of a budding and stable democracy.  For democracy in Turkey to blossom, all political parties, especially those espousing the improved rights of one-third of Turkey's population, must be allowed their political freedom.

Before the Turkish political system can truly be called a democracy, the government must attain a peaceful solution to the "Kurdish question"; one major step towards this goal is the recognition of HADEP as a legitimate political party.  For the sake of democracy in Turkey, these 31 members of HADEP should be released and HADEP should be allowed to participate in Turkish politics free from the oppression and intimidation it faces today.