Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVLEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RIVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
Ali Sapan (left) and Sherafettin Kaya, the speaker of the new parliament
grumbled the sceptics. But the strong reaction
of both Turkey and the USA,
which protested the events in The Hague,
as being a set up orchestrated by a "terrorist
group", as well as the large numbers
of journalists and international
tele\'ision \t'MIlS that con:rcd ,he event
prove that the exercise was far from being
a futile one.
The 65 deputies were elected to office
on 26 March by some 500 delegates
chosen by about 200,000 Kurds of the
diaspora, living in Western Europe, Russia
and the Caucasus, Australia and
America.Considering there are at least
half a million Kurds living in Germany
alone, this figure seems disproportionately
small. But the Kurdish
organisers appeared satisfied, claiming
the German authorities tried by all means
available to prevent the organisation of
the elections, and actually succeeded in
several cases in forbidding the political
meetings or festivals that were a cover
up for the elections.
Even so, not all the deputies sworn
in at the Hague were selected byelected
"delegates": some of them were appointed
on a quota system, like four representatives
of the Assyro-Chaldean
minority, one Yezidi, several Alevis, and
six women. The number of women representatives
is surprisingly low. But,
claim the organisers, this "reflects the
level of social emancipation of the
Kurdish diaspora which is far less developed
than inside the PKK", whose
in exile
military units include between one third
and one quarter of women members.
There is definitely a strong PKK hard
core in this new parliament, with 12 representatives
of ERNK, the so-called political
wing of PKK, including such
heavyweights as Ali Sapan, its spokesman
for Europe and the real strong man
of the new parliament: Sherafettin Kaya,
it newly elected speaker and a wealthy
Kurdish businessman of the DEP, who is
quite close to the PKK. The "Kurdish
parliament in exile" also includes six
former DEP deputies and various "independent"
personalities -among them
AbdourRahman Durre, representative of
the "Kurdish Islamic Union".
Clearly, the new parliament is made
up of personalities who may be considered
to be standing within the PKK's
sphere of influence. The absence of any
representative of the other Kurdish political
parties, such as Kemal Burkay's
Kurdistan Socialist Party, is a serious
shortcoming. Apparently, the KSP and
the other Kurdish parties were invited to
join the parliament once almost everything
had been set up. All politely declined
to sanction what was all but an
"accomplished fact". However, such as
it is, this assembly represents an effort
by Abdulla Ocalan to widen his movement'
s political basis.
"This parliament in exile is a first step
towards the creation of a national parliament",
Ali Garzan, PKK representative
in Europe told The Middle East. "Our aim
.
is not to remain in exile but to go back to
Kurdistan and to set up a Kurdish national
parliament that will represent all
Kurds".
Despite the fact that he has spent almost
half his life in Turkish jails (born in
1957, he was jailed for 16years, from 1977
until the end of 1993) Ali Garzan is a soft,
spoken person who convincingly explains
why the Kurds were forced to create
this parliament in exile: "We, the
Kurds, have no rightsin Turkey", he says:
"Look at what happened to the DEP
deputies, they hardly spoke about the
Kurdish rights when they were members
of the the Turkish parliament, but they
are in jail"
Ali Sapan, PKK spokesman for Europe,
and now deputy speaker of the new
parliament in exile, confirmed his conviction
that there is "a difference between
a party and a people." "The people altogether
must be represented through all
their components", he told The Middle
East. "In international diplomacy, the
Kurdish people will from now on have
an address, which is: "Kurdish parliament
in exile, Avenue Louis, Brussels.
This parliament will take important decisions,
such as deciding whether or not
to implement a ceasefire. It is also going
to be active in the economic field".
When asked how the parliament in
exile could claim to take any economic
decision, Ali Sapan answered: "Look, I
am going to confide this piece of news
to The Middle East: I personally have already
met representatives of the World
Bank to talk about the pipeline project to
export Azerbaidjan' s oil through Turkey.
I told them that they should get our
agreement for this project, if they want
to build a pipeline through Kurdistan. If
they don't get it, we shall prevent it".
Ali Sapan and his friends know that
Turkey will reject the "parliament in exile"
just as they forbid any form of
Kurdish association. "But we shall ask
them: with whom do you want to talk?
Is there anybody who can represent the
Kurdish people?
If they want to solve the Kurdish
question, they must get intouch with this
parliament ...if not, we will do everything
necessary to make themchange their
mind". .
It is clear that the uproar raised in
Europe by the Turkish invasion of Iraqi
Kurdistan last March facilitates their
task.
•
12 The Middle East June 1995
111