The Hill - Wednesday, November 12, 1997
page 1

       Rep. Porter's wife goes on hunger
       strike
       By Jock Friedly and Robert
       Schlesinger

       Rep. John Porter's (D-Ill.) wife is
       among the participants of a
       three-week-long hunger strike and
       vigil on the Capitol steps to
       protest Turkish oppression of the
       Kurds.

       The protest is being led by Kani
       Xulam, a personable Kurdish human
       rights activist who has long been
       condemned by the Turkish government
       for his alleged ties to the
       Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
       which the State Department considers
       a terrorist organization. Xulam and
       Kathryn Cameron Porter, who is
       president of the Human Rights
       Alliance, firmly reject the Turkish
       government's assertions about his
       PKK ties.

    The strikers, whose number was three as of Tuesday, were organized
    by Xulam's American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN). The strike
    began Oct. 20. Mrs. Porter has been eating one meal a day because
    she has diabetes.

    The group is protesting the Turkish imprisonment of Leyla Zana, a
    Kurdish woman elected to the Turkish Parliament on Oct. 20, 1991.
    She was invited by the U.S. Congress to testify on Turkish treatment
    of the Kurds. That testimony was used by Turkey to convict her of
    treason, for which she was sentenced to 15 years in a Turkish
    prison.

    "Leyla Zana is just the tip of the iceberg," said Xulam, taking
    shelter from the rain last week under the Capitol steps. "Our goal
    is really to see if a debate takes place addressing this issue," he
    added. Xulam is no stranger to controversy. He was convicted of
    passport fraud last year and nearly deported. But character witness
    testimony from Kathryn Porter and others convinced the judge that he
    should receive community service instead of jail time.

    Meanwhile, though, under pressure from Turkey, the State Department
    considered expelling Xulam. He avoided expulsion with the aid of the
    Porters and other members of Congress.

    "If he is deported, he will be killed,' Rep. Porter said this
    weekend. "There is no way the Turkish government will allow him to
    live in Turkish society."

    The Turkish Embassy alleges that Xulam's group is a political wing
    of the PKK. A State Department spokesman said the United States has
    no evidence that AKIN is acting for the PKK. If such proof existed,
    he said, AKIN would be in violation of the law.

    Xulam hotly denies any association with the PKK. "I have gone on
    record for saying that I am a believer of nonviolence, that all my
    activities revolve around that philosophy, that I wish the war to
    come to an end. ... My activities here exposing the dirty laundry of
    the Turkish government should not be put in the same category" as
    PKK activities.

    However, Michael Gunter, a professor of political science at
    Tennessee Tech University, and author of "The Kurds and the Future
    of Turkey," disagrees. "Clearly [AKIN] is associated with the PKK,"
    he said. "I have been told by PKK people" that Xulam is associated
    with the group.

    Xulam said that Gunter has visited the hunger strikers. "I told him,
    you need to be more careful with your facts," Xulam said Tuesday.
    "Yes, our office provides a lot of information about the Kurds, it
    has that mandate. ... Just because I provide the information, it
    doesn't mean I subscribe to the information, or I believe the
    information." Gunter also pointed to Turkish news reports of a 1996
    phone interview PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan gave to Kurdish
    television in which he described Xulam as, "a PKK friend."

    Xulam said he had heard of Ocalan's comments. "My hunch is he knows
    what we're doing here, and some of that information is peaceful
    overtures to the Clinton administration. ... I don't mind conveying
    the message of peace from the leader of the PKK,' he said, adding
    that he was "offended" that this could be interpreted as being a
    warrior.

    Henri Barkey, associate professor of international relations at
    Lehigh University, said such affiliations are impossible to prove,
    particularly given that Turkish news reports are "notoriously
    incorrect. They make up stuff."

    But he added, "There is an incentive for the Turkish government to
    label anybody who is against them as a PKK member. It's also in the
    interest of Kani Xulam to run away from the PKK label. The truth is
    probably in between."

    Rep. Porter agreed with Barkey in observing that, "The Turkish
    government calls anybody that believes in freedom and rights for the
    Kurdish people terrorists." Until he sees evidence that Xulam is
    linked with the PKK, Porter said he supports Xulam's efforts to
    educate legislators about the Kurdish problem.

    Mrs. Porter, who joins the fasters on the steps when weather
    permits, fasted for six days, but stopped because she is diabetic.
    "My basic thing is that I am eating one small meal a day and having
    tea for breakfast and then fasting the rest of the time,' she said
    in a telephone interview earlier this week. Xulam was effusive in
    his praise of Mrs. Porter. "It's an act of solidarity we'll never
    forget as long as we live,' he said. "Her name has become almost
    synonymous with the rights of the Kurds in the U.S. Congress."

    Speaking about Turkish treatment of the Kurds, Mrs. Porter said,
    "It's heinous. ... I've talked to women who were tortured in front
    of their husbands and fathers. I've talked to people who have been
    arrested because they smoked Kurdish cigarettes. ... We can have
    Turkey as a close ally, but we don't have to give blanket acceptance
    of their treatment of their own people."

    The most "egregious example," Mrs. Porter said, is Leyla Zana. "She
    is a female Kurdish member of Parliament who came to the United
    States [and] gave a statement about the actual treatment of Kurds.
    ... She languishes [in prison] for that."

    In the more than 23 days since their fast started, the protesters
    have subsisted entirely on vitamin pills and shots, and an
    electrolyte diet - especially Gatorade (grape and fruit punch
    flavors are favored).

    Originally, there were six fasters, but some have dropped off -
    literally. On Nov. 2, 14 days into the fast, one faster collapsed
    and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Since then, two
    more have dropped out for medical reasons. The group visits doctors
    once or twice a week for vitamin shots and physical exams.

    "Our point is not to harm ourselves. Our point is to make a
    statement," Xulam said. "I personally will go on for as long as I
    can."

    Those who are left arrive at the Capitol at 7 every morning, and
    stay until 5:30 in the evening. At that time, they proceed to
    Lafayette Park where they have a ceremony commemorating political
    prisoners who have been tortured to death by the Turks. "When we
    were able to walk, we would walk to Lafayette Park," said Xulam.
    "But now we are weak, so we drive there."