DHANJIT SINGH DHALLIWAL
						MEHMET AKBAS
						PETER FERGUSON
						VICTOR CORA
						Undergraduate Students
						Department of Chemical Engineering
						University of Massachusetts
						Amherst, MA 01004
						U.S.A.
						May 6, 1998

Nobel Peace Prize Committee
Nobelinsintuttet
Drammensvein
N-0255 Olso
Norway

Dear Respected Committee Members,

	As members of the international community, we the undersigned, 
representing different nationalities, urge serious consideration of Leyla Zana, 
a jailed parliamentarian in Turkey, as a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.   
We sympathize with the efforts of Leyla Zana and her jailed colleagues to use 
the legal political platform to endure that the human rights of the Kurds in 
the Middle East are upheld.
	Zana was elected to the Turkish parliament in 1991 by popular 
grassroots support in her constituency.  She and her colleagues have 
attempted to represent the Kurdish people by addressing their grievances to 
the Turkish people through the political platform.  She has pleaded for the 
Turkish government to engage in dialogue with her people in order to stop 
the violence raging between the Kurdish freedom fighters and the Turkish 
military.  An estimated 29,000 people have been killed in the conflict.  She 
wants an end to the miseries of families of both sides who have lost their 
children.
	Zana also used her status as an elected representative to voice her 
protest  at indiscriminate governmental and military policies to ban Kurdish 
culture and language.  These are officially banned in Turkey, and are 
suppressed in Iran, Iraq, and Syria.  Regrettably, the policies include uprooting 
Kurdish settlements and the arrest of any Kurd who attempts to identify 
her/his-self as a Kurd, and not a Turk.  It is for this reason that the Turkish 
government continuously regards the Kurds as 'mountain Turks' despite 
their distinct cultural heritage.  
	Zana appeared in parliament dressed in traditional Kurdish garments 
and took the oath in Kurdish, as she refused to speak Turkish.  For those 
reasons, the Turkish government branded her as an extremist and finally 
stripped her of her parliamentarian immunity before arresting her.  She was 
eventually charged and prosecuted for being a member of the Kurdistan 
Workers' Party (PKK).  Unlike Zana, who has used the peaceful political 
platform to seek justice for her people, the PKK are an armed revolutionary 
movement.  The PKK has been branded as a terrorist organization by the 
Turkish government.  However, Zana belongs to the Democratic People's 
Party (HEP) and was never a member of the PKK as alleged by the 
government.
	In prison since 1994, Leyla Zana, has been the unfortunate target of 
malicious Turkish propaganda to label her as a terrorist.  Given our in-depth 
knowledge of the Kurdish situation in the Middle East, we see no justifiable 
basis for the malicious mockery of Zana's peaceful intentions to address the 
Kurdish plight through a political platform.
	The nomination of Zana for  the Peace Prize will be a major 
recognition of all human rights activists throughout the world.  These 
activists deserve out utmost support, since they continue to brave untold 
horrors and hardships under zealous tyrannical governments.   Zana is one 
such person, courageous enough to accept the consequences for defying 
genocidal governments.
	We, the undersigned are confident that the Nobel Committee will not 
consider the possible criticism of the Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, and Turkish 
governments in awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Zana.  These governments 
continue to ignore the crimes committed against the Kurds, and created the 
system of apartheid and ethic cleansing in which the Kurds live.  In the name 
of Islam, money, oil, and perceived regional stability, the Kurds have been 
isolated in their struggle for basic human rights.  
	We the undersigned strongly trust that the Nobel Committee will 
support the efforts undertaken by Zana.  We pray that you will award the 
Nobel Peace Prize to Leyla Zana.

Sincerely,
Principal authors,

DHANJIT SINGH, (Malaysia)			MEHMET AKBAS, (Kurdistan)

PETER FERGUSON, (America)			VICTOR CORA, (Puerto Rico)


Auxiliary signers and supporters,

JENNIFER BOURQUE, U.S.A.
FRANK DAILEY, U.S.A
HOANG DO, Vietnam
PETER KERR, Canada
MAHMOOD KETABCHI, Iran
MIKE LANTAIGNE, U.S.A.
ROBERT LAURENCE, Prof. of Chemical Engineering, University of 
Massachusetts, Amherst, U.S.A.
MICHAEL MALONE, Prof of Chemical Engineering, University of 
Massachusetts, Amherst, U.S.A.
JESSICA MARTIN, U.S.A.
PASCUAL MARTINEZ, Mexico
TIMOTHY McMAHON, U.S.A.
SCOTT NARKEVICIUS, U.S.A.
TUAN NGUYEN, U.S.A.
RACHAEL ROTH, Political Science Lecturer, Smith College, U.S.A.
FARHAN SHAHAB, U.A.E.
MAUREEN SHEEHAN, U.S.A.
MAURICE THEGENOUS, Haiti
MICHAEL TSAPATSIS, Prof. Of Chemical Engineering, University of 
Massachusetts, Amherst, U.S.A.
DIONISIOS VLACHOS, Prof. Of Chemical Engineering, University of 
Massachusetts, Amherst, U.S.A.
THANH VU, Vietnam
CHU VU, Vietnam
GEORGE XOMERITAKIS, Post Doctoral Assistant, University of 
Massachusetts, Amherst, U.S.A.
MATT ZULLA, U.S.A.