The Nobel Peace Prize Committee
Nobelinsintuttet
Drammensvein 19
N-0255 Oslo, Norway
Dear Committee Members,
Over the past century, an intractable problem on the world stage has confounded those policy makers that have attempted to achieve its resolution. The 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, felt that this matter should be treated as a question of self determination. Today, it is also viewed, as it must be, as a profound humanitarian crisis. I am referring, of course, to the plight of the Kurdish people.
These ancient people continue today to face extreme diffuculties. Their land continues to be the setting for war and destruction that has lasted, now, for decades. This situation seems to center, ultimately, on the tension and debate over the rights of native cultures versus the authority of the nations of the region. Yasar Kemal, Turkey's most famous author, has suggested for his part that both racism and greed play major roles in perpetuating the status quo. Lord Eric Avebury, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, who has extensively visited this region of the globe, invokes a famous quote by Tacitus to describe the present situation: "they made it a desolation and called it peace". In my own visit to Turkey this month, I saw palpable evidence of the human misery generated by the policies of war.
Many brave Kurdish souls have made the ultimate sacrifice to leap into the realm called peace for the benefit of themselves and their loved ones. Leyla Zana is one such individual. She has become a symbol of the yearning of the Kurds for a state of peaceful coexistence with their neighbors. Because of a lifetime of advocating peaceful coexistence, however, she has been imprisoned and now is serving the fourth year of a fifteen year sentence in Ankara prison. At my initiation, 153 members of Congress signed a letter to President Clinton asking that he raise Leyla Zanaís case with Turkish officials and that he seek to secure her immediate release from prison. In December of 1997, Amnesty International declared her a prisoner of conscience. In numerous European cities, she has been awarded honorary friendship and peace prizes.
I met with Leyla Zana in the course my visit to Turkey. I met with members of the fledgling human rights communities in Istanbul and Ankara. I also spoke with government officials. I heard long and painful recriminations but I also heard a deep longing for peace. It is plain that the Turks and the Kurds must talk to one another.
I am, accordingly, asking that you give your utmost consideration to the nomination of Leyla Zana for 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, an act that could pave the way for the initiation of a dialogue that could bring peace. Such an award would symbolize both the hope for peace in the region and the degree to which the world is troubled by the lack of such peace. Such courageous action by the committee would serve to light a candle in a part of the world that has been kept in the darkness for too long. I hope you will agree that such a light is needed to bring an end to the long misery of the Kurds.
Sincerely,
John Edward Porter
Member of Congress