Three Years Too Many

        This month marks the three-year anniversary of the arrest of Leyla 
Zana -- a candidate for the 1995 and 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.  Three years ago, 
she and six other Kurdish members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly 
were stripped of their parliamentary immunity and arrested on charges of 
sedition and treason.  Leyla Zana, a spirited 33-year old mother of two, had 
become the only Kurdish woman ever elected to the Turkish Parliament in 
October 1991.
        Leyla Zana and her six colleagues -- each of them representing Kurdish 
constituents almost entirely -- were sentenced to as many as 15 years in prison 
simply because they, along with democratic governments throughout the 
world, vehemently denounced the Turkish government's oppressive 
measures against its 15 million Kurdish citizens, one-fourth of the nation's 
entire population.  Since her arrest, Leyla Zana's efforts have been recognized 
by the Nobel Committee, the European Union's awarding her the 1995 
Sakharov Peace Prize, and Austria, Denmark, Italy, and Norway all awarding 
her peace prizes of their own.
        At every opportunity, Leyla Zana admonished the Turkish 
government for its tactics, which, for the last 73 years, essentially have 
amounted to legalized oppression, or "cultural genocide."  According to the 
Turkish Constitution, its citizens are prohibited from proclaiming their 
Kurdish identity, from speaking their native Kurdish language, from giving 
their children traditional Kurdish names, and from practicing traditional 
Kurdish customs -- activities Kurds had practiced for millenniums, according 
to ancient Greeks and Romans.
        Leyla Zana grew up a witness to this oppression.  At age 15, she married 
an outspoken proponent of Kurdish rights, only to see him carted off to 
prison shortly thereafter because of his political views.  Though she never did 
receive a formal education, Leyla Zana was inspired by her husband and 
learned a great deal from him.  She soon became a spokesperson for her 
people, denouncing torture and tyranny while demanding the most 
elementary political, social, and cultural freedoms for her fellow Kurds.  The 
Kurdish electorate gave Leyla Zana's voice a mandate for action, electing her 
with 84% of the vote in the October 1991 parliamentary elections.
        As a member of parliament, Leyla Zana brought her message of peace, 
justice, and democracy to the United States and numerous European 
countries.  In her tour of the West, Mrs. Zana spoke firmly of "being 
subjugated to a policy of total assimilation" and eloquently defended the 
Kurdish fight "for freedom, for liberty, for basic human rights as 20th century 
citizens of this world."  Before the Helsinki Commission of the United States 
Congress in May 1993, Leyla Zana impressed upon its members, "Peace and 
democracy are no longer the concerns of a few but rather the preoccupation of 
us all, that is if we want to have truth, understanding, and beauty in the 
world."
        Leyla Zana's speeches abroad frightened Turkish government officials 
at home.  In the post-Cold War era, Turkey has experienced most profitable 
relations with the West, especially with the United States; still, with its 
admittance into the European Union already on shaky ground, Turkey feared 
repercussions from Leyla Zana's visits overseas.  They declared her and her 
collaborators enemies of the state.  The Turkish media joined its government 
in denouncing Leyla Zana and her allies, brandishing them as separatists and 
terrorists.  Although she was neither a separatist nor a terrorist, but rather the 
leading proponent of democracy and human rights in Turkey, the Turkish 
government arrested Leyla Zana along with six other parliamentarians in 
March 1994.  Never before had members of the Turkish Grand National 
Assembly been stripped of their immunity and arrested.  
        Leyla Zana, the inspirational leader to Kurds everywhere, is feeling ill; 
three years of prison have weakened her considerably.  Despite her close ties 
to several European governments, the Turkish government refuses to permit 
any visitors.  John Shattuck, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human 
Rights, is the only member of the international community who has been 
allowed to visit Leyla Zana.  Obviously, the United States, and only the 
United States, has the authority to influence Turkish policy in this regard.  
        It is America's responsibility to do all it can to free Leyla Zana -- whose 
only crime has been the struggle against countless odds to promote democracy 
and human rights -- from prison immediately and restore basic rights and 
freedoms for the Kurds.  Presently, several members of Congress, including 
Representative Frank R. Wolf (R-VA), are undertaking an initiative to free 
Leyla Zana from Ankara Central Prison in Turkey.  But, to effectively 
influence President Clinton's policies towards Turkey and, in turn, Turkish 
policies towards the Kurds, Leyla Zana's allies in Congress need greater 
support.  The United States government must commit itself to joining the 
effort to free Leyla Zana and her colleagues from prison, for they have 
committed no crime.  Providing basic human rights to all citizens cannot be 
achieved in Turkey unless its citizens -- Turks and Kurds alike -- are free to 
promote Leyla Zana's truly democratic ideals of truth, freedom, and justice.

Noah Weiss is the program director of the American Kurdish Information 
Network, a human rights organization based in Washington, DC