Requests of the Peace Groups

26 refugees from the United Nations Mahmur Camp and 8 members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) entered Turkey yesterday as "peace groups" and arrived in the city of Başverimli in the district of Silop (Şırnak) in the southeast of the country.

The people in the groups came upon imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's call for peace groups. They followed their own personal decisions as an attempt to push forward the jammed political process of finding a solution to the Kurdish question. They emphasized that they did not come to Turkey in order to benefit from the clause on "active repentance" stated in the Criminal Code. They call themselves "Group for Peace and Democratic Solution" and indicated that they are not the source of the problem but an aspect of the solution.

The peace groups brought letters addressing state officials as well as the public voicing their demands as a contribution to a solution of the Kurdish question. The claims were reported by the Fırat News Agency (ANF) as follows:

Disclosure of Öcalan's road map: The road map prepared by Öcalan should be published to the people and given to the negotiators.

Stopping military operations: operations on military and political fields have to stop and a political solution to the Kurdish question should be found in a peaceful and democratic way.

Solution: democratization, dialogue and negotiation: A solution should be dependent on a real democratization of Turkey and on the Kurdish people's free will and it should be reached by dialogue and discussion.

Living together freely and equally: Leading a free and equal life within the society on the basis of our Kurdish identity and guaranteed by the constitution as a part of the Turkish democratic nation.

Freedom of the Kurdish language: To speak, learn and develop the Kurdish language everywhere as our mother tongue. To live according to our historical values, our culture and our geography with our mother tongue. To give Kurdish names to our children and raise them with Kurdish education.

Cultural rights: To live, develop and preserve our culture, arts and literature freely as the Kurdish people.

Freedom of politics, expression and the right to be organized: Developing democratic social organizations with our own identity, doing democratic politics and expressing ourselves freely.

A life with adequate opportunities, without oppression and within security: Living away from special operations, village policemen and police oppression in villages, suburbs and cities. Living safely with sufficient opportunities.

Democratic constitution: We want the democratization of Turkey and for that we demand a civil democratic draft of the constitution.

At the end of the letter the group summarizes, "We take this step to discuss a democratic solution of the Kurdish question with everybody who votes for peace on the basis of our claims". (TK/VK)