FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EU TURKEY AND THE KURDS

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FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EU, TURKEY AND THE KURDS EU Progress Reports on Turkey The European Commission (EC)—the EU’s executive organ—released its annual Progress Report on Turkey on November 5, 2008. 38 The Report did not criticize Turkey’s ruling AK Party as harshly as it might have probably due to its near death experience with the Constitutional Court during the year in review. Nevertheless, the Report made it clear that the EU was not satisfied with the lack of reforms on issues ranging from human rights and the protection of minorities, democracy and the rule of law, corruption, and the role of the military, among others. Little was new in all this except for the first time the EU Report referred specifically to the Kurdish issue on several occasions. For example, in its section on ‘civil and political rights,’ the Report observed how ‘Articles . . . of the Turkish Criminal Code, that criminalise offences against public order, and the Anti-Terror law have been applied to prosecute and convict those expressing non-violent opinions on Kurdish issues. . . and Kurdish-related issues’ (p. 16. Italics added.) This, declared the Report, ‘is not in line with the ECtHR [European Court of Human Rights] case law on freedom of expression and implies in particular a lack of differentiation between violent and non-violent opinions’ (Ibid.). The Report also cited ‘the case against 53 DTP mayors for sending a letter to the Danish Prime Minister requesting that [the pro-Kurdish] Roj TV not be closed’ and mentioned that the case ‘was finalized in April 2008. The [Turkish] Court sentenced the defendants to 2 months and 15 days imprisonment, which was commuted to a fine’ (Ibid.). Continuing, the Report stated that ‘overall, Turkey has made no progress on ensuring cultural diversity and promoting respect for and protection of minorities in accordance with European standards’ (p. 26). The Report did note that amendments to the relevant law had supposedly allowed broadcasts ‘nationally all day long in languages other than Turkish,’ while ‘a new local radio channel, Muş FM, has received authorization to broadcast in Kurdish’ (Ibid.). However, the launching of a channel broadcasting in languages other than Turkish has been delayed on several occasions. Furthermore, two of the four local TV and radio channels that started broadcasting in languages and dialects traditionally used by Turkish citizens closed down during the reporting period. Time restrictions laid down in the law on the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) continues to apply, with the exception of films and music programmes. Educations programmes teaching the Kurdish language are not allowed. All broadcasts, except songs, must be subtitled or translated into Turkish. These restrictions make broadcasting in languages other than Turkish cumbersome and non-viable commercially. The police and the Radio and . . . RTUK apply a policy of strict monitoring of broadcasts in Kurdish. Several court cases and investigations against GUN TV—the only TV channel cur- 38 Commission of the European Communities, Commission Staff Working Document, Turkey 2008 Progress Report {Com(2008)674}, Brussels, November 5, 2008. The following citations from this document are referred to in the text by page numbers in parentheses. 70
FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EU, TURKEY AND THE KURDS rently broadcasting in Kurdish—are ongoing, in relations to the wording of Kurdish songs the channel has aired. Children whose mother tongue is not Turkish cannot learn it in the Turkish public schooling system. Under the current legislation such education can be provided only by private educational institutions. However, in the case of Kurdish courses which had opened following the changes to the law [these] have now closed down. As a result, there are currently no opportunities to learn Kurdish in either the public or private schooling system. Finally, according to the Law on political parties, the use of languages other than Turkish remains illegal in political life. In this context, a large number of investigations and court cases have been launched against officials and executives of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) (Ibid.). 39 The Report also took issue with Turkey’s continuing approach to the rights of minority ethnic groups, which—with the exception of such non-Muslim groups as Greeks, Armenians, and Jews who are protected as minority groups by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923)—only grants rights to individual not groups. ‘This should not prevent Turkey, in accordance with European standards, from granting specific rights to certain Turkish citizens on the grounds of their ethnic origin, religion or language, so that they can preserve their identity’ (p. 25) concluded the Report. Although ‘Turkey is a party to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, . . . its reservation regarding the rights of minorities and its reservation concerning the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights . . . regarding the right to education are causes for concern’ (Ibid.). Finally, the Report also noted that ‘Turkey has not signed the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities or the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages’ (Ibid.). The Report also listed a number of other points specifically concerning the Kurds. 1.) ‘The Kurdish Newroz Spring celebrations in March 2008 resulted in violence against demonstrators in several provinces’ (p. 17). 2.) ‘No steps have been taken to abolish the system of village guards,’ (p. 28) long seen by many as an instrument of official state repression. 3.) ‘The ‘temporary security zones’ established in June 2007 in the provinces of Sirnak, Siirt and Hakkari close to the Iraqi border remain operational’ (p. 27). These ‘temporary security zones’ were suggestive of the former emergency rule provinces that had been seen as another arm of state repression but had been finally abolished in 2002. In all fairness to Turkey, however, the Report explained that ‘terrorist attacks by the PKK, which is on the EU list of terrorist organizations, [not only] continued in the South-East, but also throughout the country and claimed many lives’ (Ibid.). In addition, ‘landmines remain a security concern for both military personnel and civilians. The government reported ongoing use of anti-personnel mines by the PKK/KONGRAGEL’ (Ibid.). 39 In January 2009, however, the state-owned Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) launched an exclusive Kurdish-language television station. It remains to be seen how successful this initiative will prove. Ihsan Dagi, “The Turkish State’s Kurdish TV Channel,” Today’s Zaman, January 5, 2009. 71
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FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EU TURKEY AND THE KURDS

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