September 1, 1998

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee
Nobelinsintuttet
Drammensvein 19
N-0255 Oslo, Norway

We are aware that Ms. Zana is serving the fourth year of a 15 year prison sentence for 'treason' against the government of Turkey. Amnesty International, however, has named her a 'prisoner of conscience', jailed for the peaceful expression of her political opinions. Her 'treason' consisted of wearing a scarf and headband in red, yellow and green, colours banned when grouped together because they are the colours of the Kurdish flag. Where else in the world are traffic lights red, yellow and blue? We consider this to be ludicrous in the extreme. Ms. Zana is accused of taking her Oath of Loyalty as an M.P. in Kurdish as well as Turkish and of adding phrase in Kurdish expressing her wish for the brotherhood of the Turkish and Kurdish peoples. How can a wish for brotherhood be considered treason? Ms. Zana is also in jail because of her continuing efforts to protect the basic human rights of her Kurdish people. She made many speeches inside and outside Turkey seeking justice and peace. In these speeches, Ms. Zana documented well the actions of the Turkish government against the Kurdish people: the destruction of over 3000 villages, the burning of crops and forests, the creation of some 3 million refugees, the arrests of journalists, writers and politicians who dared to speak out, the torture in jails, the 'disappearances', the 'unsolved' murders, the closure of legal political parties for representing Kurdish people, etc.

Leyla Zana's life, from village girl to journalist to M.P. to Nobel Peace Prize nominee, mirrors the awakening of her people. She has come to be a symbol of both the oppression and the hope of the Kurdish nation, the largest nation in the world without a homeland.

Little attention has been paid to the plight of the Kurds in Turkey because of Turkey's strategic position as a western ally, a member of NATO and a hoped for bulwark against fundamental Islam. This, however, is a shameful excuse for ignoring the appalling situation of 20 million Kurdish people. Should the committee see fit to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Leyla Zana, it would not only be a well-deserved honour and tribute to her, but, more importantly, it would bring world attention to the human rights abuses so massively and continuously perpetrated by the Turkish government against its Kurdish citizens, and, hopefully, be one small step towards bringing peace to this tortured land.

Thank you so much for your attention to our letter and hoping you will see fit to make this prestigious award to Leyla Zana.

Yours truly,

Canadian Friends of Leyla Zana

signed by Andrew Fraser, Bookseller/student
Rick Warren, Student
Kerri Koster, Student
Lynn Foster, Social Worker
Ahlia Vallevano, Director of Greenpeace
Rene Salazar, Student
K. Allan Dane, Retired Engineer
Mary Trumpener, Teacher
Kirk Bishop, Musician
Andrew Lister, Student
Douglas McLachlan, Student-at-Law
Jack Cummings, Researcher
Shampa Chakraborty, Student
Percy Yap, Manager