Madam, - With great happiness and relief Kurdistan Solidarity Ireland welcomes the news of the release of the four Kurdish former parliamentarians, including Nobel peace prize nominee Leyla Zana, from Turkish jail last week.
Similarly, the news of the commencement of Kurdish language broadcasting in Turkey appears, at first glance, welcome. Such headlines will be greeted as evidence of the changed atmosphere and the laudable progression of democratic reform in Turkey.
However, on the same day that this good news reached us (The Irish Times, June 10th) we also heard of the closure of the Kurdish news agency DIHA in Istanbul and the detention of 25 journalists, some of whom are still being held by special police.
Later announcements connecting the closure and detentions to a forthcoming visit to Ankara by President Bush seek typically to blur the boundaries between legitimate political dissent and unlawful acts of terrorist violence, and thereby again, as elsewhere, to criminalise Kurdish political journalists and writers and damage the free operation of the press.
Freeing Leyla Zana and her colleagues is a positive step forward; detaining 25 Kurdish journalists is highly questionable. Beginning Kurdish-language broadcasts (45 minutes a week, subtitled in Turkish, pre-recorded and subject to multiple unusual regulations) sensationally breaks a taboo; closing down Turkish-language, Kurdish-run news agencies reverts to type.
Such double dealing belies the motive of reforms, and indicates that, unfortunately, changes are not introduced in a true spirit of brotherhood and peace towards the Kurdish people. Such brotherhood would be better demonstrated by an immediate cessation of military operations against Kurds and the release of the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan. - Yours, etc.,
CARLA KENNEDY,
Secretary, Kurdistan Solidarity Ireland, Sheraton Court, Glasheen Road, Cork.