Sir, - The proposal by the Irish Government to open an embassy in Turkey puts a question over its espousal of human rights. Parliamentarians are imprisoned in that country for advocating the rights of the Kurdish people, the former Islamist prime minister is facing trial for insulting the state. Writers, journalists and lawyers are detained and tortured, many have been killed for criticising repressive state policies. The president of the Human Rights Association, Akin Birdal, recently survived an assassination attempt by rightwing extremists.
Freedom of expression is seriously curtailed and the military enjoys excessive power through the National Security Council. The army has carried out a war of attrition against the civilian Kurdish population, three million of whom have been evacuated without compensation from their villages in the rural southeast. If Ireland increases diplomatic links with Turkey as democracy is diminishing there, our positive support for human rights will be seriously compromised. - Yours, etc., Anne McCluskey, Latif Serhildan,
Kurdish Information Network, Upper Camden Street, Dublin 2.