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

REVUE DE PRESSE~PRESS REVIEW~BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ~RWISTA STAMPA~DENTRO DE LA PRENSA~BASIN ÖZETi
The view from a
region in flames
By Galip Rldvanoglu
Turkish Daily News ,
DlvARBAKIR- The two, khaki colored, convertible Land Rovers sped
past our bus heading towards Mardin. Four villagers were seated on top
of one of the vehicles among heavily armed gendarmerie soldiers. As we
watched them go by we notIced theIThands were tied behind their backs.
But they coùld not see us, for their eyes were covered with rags.
Blindfolded, they were clearly being taken for interrogation.
Heading towàrds one of the seven makeshift refugee camps set up in .
northern Iraq to accommodate some 12,000 refugees, our group whicb
was escorting a delegation from the Turkisb Human Rights Association
was constantly accompanied by the sound of blasts coming down from
tbe mountains. ' '
Explosions could be heard from miles away, signalling a new operation.
Perhaps there will a new communique from the Governor's office,
on yet another victory against militants of tbe outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK)~ ' ' .
The explosions, however, are also being attributed to other things. At
the ASSOCIationbrancb office in DiyarbakIr, a wall gazette is full of pictures.
Pictures of burned down and destroyed houses. Pictures of civilians
'with bodies covered with bruises and burn marks.' ,
Asking tbe local activists on wbat they are, we get a bllmt reply~ "the
houses are those which have been destroyed by security forces. The pe0ple
are those who have beên tortured." About 12,000 people living along
the border have already fled into northern Iraq where they are scattered in
seven separate camps. Everyone is scared. .. . ,
Among the scared are human rights activists. Association chairman
Akm .Birdal suggests we move together and eat in the same place. "To
avoid mystery killings," he explains. ,
On the,fITstday of the fa~t-finding ~ssion, a decision is taken to keep
the group together and "aVOIdcomplicatlOn's." Numbering around 30 people
and made up of human rights activists and journalists, our group
headed for the border some 300 kilometers away. Stopped ten times at
securyty check points along the road, we are constantly surrounded by the
remaInS of petroleum tankers. ' '
Following the Gulf War, the road bas been empty. There is hardly any
traffic n~wand the sanc~ons .on.Irag ba~e hurt the local economy most.
A polIce officer explaInS; 'this sItuatIon has helped th~ PICK. Most of
the unemployed youngsters are now heading for the mountains." Custom
officials tell us that two to three thousand trucks were crossing the border
before the sanctions. Now, even the customs crossing point is empty. "If
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things go on this way, the whole region will be empty," one customs official
Interjects.
Immediatelyon the other side of the border we are greeted by a
Kurdish border policeman. "Welcome to Kurdistan," he says, standing
before a signpost saying the same thing. '
Closeto the border post is the vast mountain of Cudi which ranges
from Turkey into Iraq and has been used over the years as a crossIng'
point by PKK militants. Mount Cudi is smoking. "Turkish planes hit it
again this morning" one Peshmerge explains. '
In Zakho about 200 Turkish Kurds are on hunger strike. "They are
bombing our villages," a middle aged villager says. "We want to live like
human beings," he adds. ' .' '
The delegation then moves on to a camp where about 2,000 refugees
who have fled Turkeyare housed. Despite previous statements by Turkey
that the migration is only a PICKploy, the first thing which attracts our
attention is the crowded number of women and children. ,
The situation in the Sheranishe and Beberi camps just on the slopes of
the Zerkan mountains astonishes members of the delegation. Suddenly
there are too many people. More than 10,000 villagers are now there and
about half of them are children. Complaints are similar. Stories are
almost identical. Some complain of being forced to join the village
guards and losing their villages when they refused. Others say their settlements
were bombed. The most common complaints are related to health
and nutrition problems. There is a demand for more assistance from the
United Nations.
"We were forced to move here because of the security operations,"
explains an elderly man. "They bombed and destroyed our villages."
Following the visit to three separate camps, a Turkish officer at the
Habur border gate tells us there are 4,000 PICK terrorists on Mount Cudi.
"We are conductingoperations on the mountain every day," he says. "We
have no day or nigfit. It is very difficult."
In the evening, we hear cannons pounding tbe mountain once 'again.
Members of the dele~ation go silent as they listen. The roads at night are
still dangerous. Nothing goes by but for military vehicles. Most officers
insist we do not continue. "It is too dangerous," one of them says. It is in
contrast to official statements made back in Ankara that Turkey has full
control throughout the region. . '
At one military post, where we are hosted while waiting for a fully
equipped escort convoy, we cbat with officers. They believe the problem
in the Southeast can only be solved through peaceful methods. ,
One officer says they bave identified 2,500 PKK militants in Mardin
by name. "But in the past two years, we could oruy get some of them.
People forced to migrate are joimng the organization."
Another officer interjects, "peaceful methods are a must." Two of the
four villagers on the Landro.ver are elderly and in no way do they resemble
terronsts. Members of tbe delegation are in pain, knowing they cannot
do anything. Two women on the bus wipe away their tears.,If the vil-
,lagers are crying as well, there is no way to know. Their eyes are blindfolded.
They cannot even see that someone cares. - '
These days, the scene everywhere in the Southeast is similar. There is
only military traffic on the roads at night. During the day, one can easily
hear the blades of helicopters chopping through the air. Echoes of faraway
explosions can be heard. And now, becoming a part of the natural
scene, is the smoke. The mountains orthe Southeast are smoking ...
.J