Rozerin Gültekin

 

ISTANBUL - Commenting on PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan's call for ‘Peace and Democratic Society’ and the legal steps to be taken, IHD Co-Chair Eren Keskin stated that the execution system should be changed and said: "The right to hope is an issue that Turkey should consider and implement."

 

On 27 February, PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan's historic call for ‘peace and democratic society’, which was shared with the public, had a great repercussion all over the world. Following the statement, positive messages came one after another from all over the world. The PKK also announced that it would fulfil the requirements of the call and declared a ceasefire. With Abdullah Öcalan's message ‘Undoubtedly, in practice, the laying down of arms and the PKK's self-dissolution require the recognition of democratic politics and the legal dimension’, the eyes of the state turned to the state.

 

Human Rights Association (HRA) Co-Chair Eren Keskin made evaluations on the call and legal steps.

 

‘Nothing is the end for the Kurds’

 

Eren Keskin stated that as HRA, they have been struggling for peace since the day they were founded and underlined that they have been fighting for peaceful and unarmed solutions since the period of intense war and conflict in the 1990s. Eren Keskin said, "For Kurds, a people who have experienced so much oppression, injustice and death, nothing is the end. Every time there is a new beginning. I think this will be the beginning of democratisation. We evaluate the statement made by Mr Öcalan in this direction. We think that it is extremely important that problems are evaluated in a peaceful environment without the use of weapons. Following Mr Öcalan's statement, the United Nations, America and Germany made statements before the political parties in Turkey. These are the clearest indicators of how much of an international issue the Kurdish issue is. Developments in all parts of Kurdistan affect each other. There is a need for peaceful solutions and the recognition of Kurdish identities in all these geographies. I hope that this process will be one that will remove the obstacles to freedom of expression and freedom of association. Above all, we need to talk. This should be considered as a chance. I think this chance should be used well by the state."

 

A legal step needs to be taken: Execution system needs to be changed

 

Eren Keskin stated that one of the first steps to be taken after Abdullah Öcalan's call and PKK's ceasefire declaration should be freedom for political prisoners and emphasised that freedom should be granted to politics. Commenting on the steps to be taken legally in the following process, Eren Keskin stated the following: "The state of the Republic of Turkey does not act in accordance with its own domestic law nor with the international conventions it has signed. This process needs to be legally secured. Everyone who takes a stand and speaks in this process needs to be legally secured. Because this was not done in the previous peace process, and everyone who spoke at that time was later tried and put in prison. If the state of the Republic of Turkey acts in accordance with the conventions it has signed, this process would already be secured. The right to hope is an issue that Turkey must take into consideration and implement. Because there are judgements of the European Court of Human Rights. Turkey is a party to the Convention on Human Rights and accepts the binding force of the European Court of Human Rights, so the Right to Hope is a right that should definitely be put on the agenda. Major changes are needed in the Turkish Penal Code and especially in the Anti-Terror Law.

 

The execution system is discriminatory in Turkey. Political prisoners have to serve 3 quarters of their sentences, while judicial offenders serve much less of their sentences, and even if this period is over, their executions are burned with various rights violations. The execution system needs to be changed. All of these are a process, and this process needs to be embraced by politics. Not only Kurds, political parties where Kurds are in the majority, but also the main opposition party should embrace this process."

 

‘Everyone has great duties’

 

Finally, Eren Keskin said, "Civil Society Organisations, trade unions, political parties, women's organisations, in other words, everyone has great duties. As human rights defenders, we are determined to continue all our duties on the road to peace. We will decide what kind of a path we will take with the new process by convening our MYK, but I don't think there will be anything very different for us. Because as İHD, we have been struggling for peace for years. The biggest call should be made to the trade unions. The end of the conflict environment concerns labourers in the first place. The reign of peace means the return of the bread stolen from the tables of labourers. This process will affect women the most. Women suffer the most from the warlike, male-dominated, militarist language. The spread of violence as a state language hits women first. Women need peace the most, so the women's movement must embrace the peace process."