From Ankara Prison, January 17, 1996

My Dear Parliamentarian Colleagues,

Before all else, I would like to say it is an honor and a pleasure for me to have been found worthy of the Sakharov Freedom Award by the European Parliament. I am grateful and thankful for the close attention and friendship you have bestowed upon me and my friends throughout the sentencing procedures, which lasted two years.

I would have liked to be with you to share my feelings from this pulpit. However, even if I am unable to be with you in person, I am among you with my mind and with my heart, which together have withstood their ground unyielding. I am with you. I salute you with my love, respect, and friendship.

The late Andrei Sakharov, after whom this award was named, has an unforgettable and meaningful place within the tragic lives of the Kurds, and is still remembered with love and fondness. As you may remember, the "voice of the Kurds" was heard for the first time in 1975 through the oppression and massacres of the Iraqi Kurds at the hands of Saddam Hussein. Even in those times, Mr. Sakharov stretched his hand of friendship to the Kurds by demanding an arms embargo on Iraq and by striving to draw the attention and the interest of international institutions and organizations to the Kurdish issue.

Due to his illness, Mr. Sakharov did not participate in the International Kurdish Conference in Paris. Instead, he sent his wife Elena Bonner. In his prepared message, he demonstrated his friendship to the Kurds once again. Taking the meaning and significance of this day into consideration, with your permission, I would like to quote a portion of his message which still stays with me:

...The tragic struggle of the Kurdish people, which has persisted for a long time, is due to the lack of the right of people for self-determination and, therefore, is a just struggle. We invite every government and international institution that has relations with countries where the Kurds live to pay attention to the policies that the administrators of the overlord countries pursue against the Kurdish people...

It is because of this reason that the great defender of human rights and peace, the true friend of the Kurdish people, the great scientist and being, Mr. Sakharov, has a special place in the heart of the Kurds together with the former President of the United States Woodrow Wilson, who reiterated even in the 1920's that "the Kurds must be free," the Swedish President Mr. Olof Palme, and the late President of France, Mr. Francois Mitterand. We have never forgotten them and we will not forget them.

I would like to point out that, for me, to be honored with an award previously deemed worthy of Mr. Nelson Mandela, Alexander Dubcek, Mrs. Teslime Nesrin, and Aung San Suu Kyi has a special meaning. Along the same lines, with your permission, I would like to extend my greetings and feelings of friendship to Sergei Kovalyev, who was also nominated for this year's award and who was indisputably as qualified as I.

I perceive this award deemed worthy to me in person as a political message confirming the rightfulness of the democratic demands and desires of the Kurdish people and consider it as a gain of their struggle for freedom.

This award not only has garnered the love and sympathy of the Kurdish people but also has bestowed courage to those who defend human rights and democracy, to artists, journalists, intellectuals, scientists, researchers, politicians, and to civilian non-governmental organizations, to pro-peace businessmen, to Kurdish friends, to the long-suffering and oppressed Kurdish women. It has condemned, in the international arena, those who have "condemned" us to prison.

Above all else, I am a mother. And I consider every youth, irrespective of being a Turk or a Kurd, who has lost his/her life during this dirty war that has been waged for the last ten years in my country, as part of my flesh. I hope and wish this award gives courage also to Turkish mothers to bear the loss of their children in this war.

Unfortunately, Turkey, which has been accepted into the Customs Union with Europe, has failed to establish a democratic opening. Instead of undertaking radical, constitutional reforms, it has confined itself to window dressing. But -- I am afraid -- it has failed even in this. Just yesterday, 39 people were put on trial by the State Security Court of Istanbul for violating the infamous article number 8 of the Anti-terror Law, which authorities claimed to have changed (in accordance with the requirements of the Customs Union). However, today, the same court preceded with the trial of the 40 people, business as usual.

The balance of the ten-year war in Turkey is devastating: 30,000 people have lost their lives, more than 3,000 Kurdish villages have been burned, destroyed and wiped off the map. Three million inhabitants of these villages are forced to migrate elsewhere. Tens of journalists, 105 members of the HEP and DEP, including a parliamentarian, and three thousand others have been assassinated by "unknown" assailants. Thousands of hectares of forests have been burned and hundreds of Turkish and Kurdish youths have been maimed. Thousands of children are orphaned and the same amount of women have been widowed.

During 1995 alone, six thousand people were put on trial for committing crimes of thought and expression. One hundred people were assassinated by "unknown" assailants and 200 people were tortured by security forces. Journalists, writers and publishers were punished with a total of 178 years of imprisonment. 1,500 people were prosecuted with the demand of a death sentence. 184 people disappeared while under custody. Very recently, Metin Goktepe, a journalist from the Turkish daily Evrensel, who was apprehended by the police, was tortured to death.

Honorable Colleagues,

From historical records we know that whenever Kurds talk about democratic rights and demands, they are silenced forcefully and violently. At no time have democratic channels been opened for them and every humane and natural demand of the Kurds has been branded as an "uprising" and slated to be squashed. A few years ago, President Suleyman Demirel revealed in one of his speeches the official state policy and the viewpoint of the administrators when he stated, "In recent history, the Kurds have revolted (against the Turkish state) 28 times and all of them were suppressed. This one is the 29th. And we will suppress it too..."

Although, Kurdish people stood behind their Turkish brethren against every threat in each period of history and suffered equal hardships, at no time have they been accorded equal rights and status with the Turkish people. Herein lies the root of the problem. The official ideology of the state denies the (cultural and linguistic) differences and strives to "Turkify" everyone by force. Naturally, those Kurds who have accepted the fact of assimilation will not have a demand for Kurdish identity. Personally, I believe it is necessary and natural that we respect the choice of those who no longer consider themselves Kurds. However, the great majority of Kurds, who, according to official statistics, number between 15 and 20 million, do have a demand for Kurdish identity. As human beings, naturally, Kurds also demand to be trained and educated in their mother tongues. They want to publish and distribute their own newspapers, journals, and books. They want to use their language in radio and television broadcasting. They want to research their culture and history. And, they want to participate in the administrative and political life as Kurds. Taking into consideration the process whereby Europe is reinforcing its union via a single identity, a single passport, a single Parliament, and a single monetary system, and considering the globalization process whereby national borders are eroding, it is obvious that the Kurds cannot and shall not follow policies that would isolate them from the world. Even though Turkey has insisted on solving the Kurdish problem via non-peaceful methods for decades, and has neither taken a single ameliorative step nor given a hope to do so, it has received acceptance from the European Parliament.

When the European Parliament "OK'd" Turkey's entry [into the European Customs Union], it was influenced by the one-way Turkish propaganda and, also, it hoped its acceptance would play a catalytic role in speeding up the process of democratization in Turkey. Even though we share the same hope and ideas, I must emphasize the fact that I am anxious because certain circles [in Turkey], who expect to reap the fruits of acceptance into the Union, will be emboldened to hamper the process of democratization, and will even increase the dosage of violence and tension.

I would like to hope, during this fragile and critical transition period, the European Parliament does not consider only Turkey's geographic and strategic importance and its size as a potential market of 65 million people.

I believe your Honorable Parliament and our friends [in the West] will not sacrifice democracy and human rights for economic interests. And, in the same vein, it will neither be a partner in the anti-democratic practices of Turkey, the new member of its Customs Union, nor will it legitimize them.

Today, a historic opportunity has emerged for peace. A "Unilateral, Unlimited and Unconditional Cease-fire" has been in operation [by the PKK] since December 15, 1995. But, unfortunately, it has not been reciprocated and, as a result, tens of young men have lost their lives in ongoing operations. I say this ceasefire should be taken seriously. The ground for transition from war to reconciliation should be paved and conditions that suit this process should be created. Great duties await our European friends, in this respect, and I hope they will not shun them.

Countries with similar problems (like that of the Kurds) solved them by opening up democratic channels. I believe it is not too late for Turkey also to solve their problem without any border changes and I hope that the problem is solved by peaceful means. Before all else, to make the cease-fire process permanent,

-- "Political freedom," which includes the freedom to organize, should be recognized,
-- The creation of an environment that nurtures the solution of the problem through dialogue and allows the utilization of democratic and political channels must occur,
-- Domestic operations (against the Kurdish guerrillas) should be stopped immediately; cross border raids should not take place,
-- Radical reforms and changes should be undertaken to provide Kurdish identity with constitutional and legal protection.

Honorable Colleagues,

Please do not think I have drawn a pessimistic picture or I have exaggerated what we have lived through or I have reflected events in a distorted form. I have tried to be as objective as possible. Naturally, another task that awaits you, my Parliamentarian colleagues, is not to limit yourselves solely to what the troubled partners tell you, but to come here, to the region, and conduct your own investigations and evaluations.

I must reiterate that this award has a priceless moral value for me and I would be honored to carry out the responsibility it puts on my shoulders in the field of peace, democracy, human rights, and freedom of thought and expression.

The most significant common denominator we share with you is our belief in democracy, human rights, and the idea of establishing a modern, democratic Turkey in its real sense. We need to save the portion of my country that has been turned into a lake of blood and an engulfing fire. We all have to do our share. Both the Kurdish people and the Turkish people have paid a high price and they are still paying it. I count March 2, 1994 and the period following it as the price we paid for democracy and freedom. The toils we went through have been an honor.

In the spirit of friendship and solidarity, I greet all members of the European Parliament with my love and respect.

LEYLA ZANA