[asia-apec 1034] In support of Kurdistan and freedom for Ocalan!

[BAYAN]

February 23, 1999

US-TURKISH REACTIONARIES ARE THE REAL TERRORISTS,   
NOT KURDISH LEADER ABDULLAH OCALAN

"Abdullah Ocalan, national liberation leader of the Kurds, should be given
a fair trial open to the world's media, human rights groups, solidarity
groups, personages, and other interested groups in the international
community. In fact, he should immediately be released," Rita Baua of Bayan
(New Patriotic Alliance), stressed in her short speech at a lightning
picket held on February 23, 9:30 a.m., by Bayan and Karapatan (Alliance for
the Advancement of People's Rights) in front of the Manila Hotel where
Turkey's President Suleymen Demirel and his delegation were billeted. Baua
reiterated that Ocalan is not a terrorist and that he should not be 'caged
like an animal.'

President Demirel is in the Philippines for a three-day state visit for
bilateral agreements on investments, eco-technology and issuance of visa.
He also asked the Estrada government to join Turkey in an anti-terrorism
campaign, which Bayan and Karapatan refer to as more of a militarist campaign
where human rights are violated with umpunity.

Abdullah Ocalan was abducted by US-Turkish commando troops in Kenya and
brought to Turkey to face trial on 'terrorism' charges.  His arrest and
detention in the island prison of Imrali has sparked massive outrage from
Kurds in different parts of the world, notably in Europe to where a few
millions of Kurds have escaped from political persecution by the Turkish
state.

Ocalan is the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has waged a
14-year  life-and-death struggle  for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish
southeast.   

The Kurds number 25 million, the biggest nationality without a state of its
own.  Under Turkish rule, they are also  banned from using their own
language, music, and broadcasting their own activities.

The conflict between the Kurds' self-rule and the Turkish reactionaries has
killed 37,000 people.

"The real terrorists are the US-Turkish reactionaries who have conducted
genocidal military campaigns and continue to commit  human rights
violations  against the Kurds:  the burning and forced evacuation of about
3,000 Kurdish villages and towns, the forced evacuation of about 5 million
of Kurdish peasants and workers from their villages to other towns, the
bombing of
several areas of the Kurdish region. Its forests have also been burned
down. It is said that the Turkish state is emptying Kurdistan of any
human being.  Furthermore, hundreds of Kurdish mothers and wives are in
anguish over the disappearance of their sons and husbands.  Hundreds more
of Kurds have languished for years in military camps in Turkey," Baua added.

"Worse, the death penalty is imposed in Turkey.  With the Turkish state's
iron-fisted policy towards supposed terrorists like popular leader and
patriot
Ocalan, who has rallied peasants, workers, intellectuals, businessmen,
and other sectors of his people to fight for their self-identity, we fear
that he might be executed."

"Bayan  is therefore enjoining its member-organizations and chapters
nationwide and in other parts of the world, including groups supporting the
Filipino people's national democratic struggle, to campaign for immediate
release of Ocalan and humane treatment while he is still in detention; and
for the Kurds' struggle for self-rule, freedom, and democracy,"
Baua concluded her speech.#


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	 B A Y A N
	 Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or New Patriotic Alliance
	 No. 23 Maamo Street, Sikatuna Village
	 Quezon City, PHILIPPINES							      	
	 Telephone: (63-2) 435-9151       Telefax: (63-2) 922-5211
	 Email:   <bayan at iname.com>
	 Bayan webpage URL:                                 
	 http://www.bigfoot.com/~bayan-phils 	      	
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