Zana blames Constitution for Kurds’ troubles in Turkey
Source: TODAY’S ZAMAN
Former Kurdish deputy Leyla Zana has recommended that sweeping changes be made to Turkey’s Constitution, saying that the current one, drafted during military rule in 1982, is the source of many problems that deprive Turks and Kurds in the country of their freedoms.
“I believe it is the Constitution that was drafted by generals which lies at the heart of all the oppression,” Zana said, addressing a meeting held at the British Parliament on Monday. Without changes to the Constitution, Kurds will continue to suffer even if the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) were to come to power, she added.
Zana, a former deputy of the now-defunct Democracy Party (DEP), served a 10-year prison sentence after being convicted for separatism and links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Ankara and most of the international community. The DTP, the largest pro-Kurdish party to succeed the DEP and other closed pro-Kurdish parties, is also facing a closure case at the Constitutional Court.
In her speech, delivered in Kurdish, Zana thanked her “British friends” for their efforts to free her from jail but added that no real progress would be achieved without liberating the “entire society” through a constitutional overhaul. “My people, of course, have some demands and expectations. But Turks, Kurds and others all are deprived of their freedom as a whole because of the current Constitution. Regardless of which political party — including the DTP — comes to power, they will not be able to do much if the Constitution does not change,” she said.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has long been planning a constitutional overhaul, but it put its plans on hold after a state prosecutor filed a closure case against it on charges of being a focal point for anti-secular activities.
In her speech, followed mostly by Kurdish activists in Europe, Zana also referred to Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the PKK, as “esteemed,” a reference which many DTP officials use while talking about the terrorist group’s head despite widespread disapproval among ordinary Turks and state officials. She claimed that Öcalan had taken an initiative for peace but that it was turned down by Turkey.
Only a few British parliamentarians were present at the meeting, and most of the audience consisted of Kurds. Labor Party deputy John Austin, who hosted the meeting, criticized the British government for not meeting with Zana. Zana received a peace prize from the European Parliament in 2004 after her release from jail, but her popularity in Europe plummeted in the following years after several European politicians called on Kurdish politicians to draw a clear line between themselves and the PKK and denounce the terror organization. Zana stated in her speech that the Kurds were not “terrorists,” apparently referring to the PKK, and claimed Kurds would never have resorted to violence if their demands for an acknowledgment of their existence had been met.
