Country of origin information report Turkey March 2007

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Kurds

19.05 A recently published report on human rights violations against Kurds in Turkey prepared by the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) reported that:
“Since the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, Turkey has not recognised the existence of a separate Kurdish ethnic community within its borders. Over 20 million Kurds presently live in Turkey, who for decades have been subjected to economic disadvantage and human rights violations which bear the hallmarks of systematic persecution intent on destroying Kurdish identity. Over the past year, Turkey has made some gains in the quest for equality for the Kurds, but much work remains.” [6c] (p1)
19.06 The same KHRP report further stated that:
“In its goal to join the EU, Turkey has enacted reforms that it says were designed to liberalise and open its political system. However, during the last year as Turkey has slid into its old habits of torture, repression, the denial of freedom of expression and association and discrimination against Kurdish people, concerns have been raised that Turkey’s reforms were merely superficial and designed to give the appearance of change, without any substantive alterations to either the political system or the everyday lives of Kurds living in the country.” [6c] (p1)
19.07 As noted in the USSD 2005 “Although the number was unknown, some minority groups were active in political affairs. Many members of parliament and senior government officials were Kurds.” [5b] (Section 3) The USSD report in addition noted “Citizens of Kurdish origin constituted a large ethnic and linguistic group. Millions of the country’s citizens identified themselves as Kurds and spoke Kurdish. Kurds who publicly or politically asserted their Kurdish identity or publicly espoused using Kurdish in the public domain risked censure, harassment, or prosecution.” [5b] (Section 5)
19.08 As outlined by the Council of Europe European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) in its ‘Third report on Turkey - adopted on 25 June 2004 and made public on 15 February 2005’:
“According to estimates, there are between twelve and fifteen million Kurds living in Turkey. There are no official statistics as national censuses do not take account of people’s ethnic origins. The Kurds live mainly in the South-East, although many of them have left the region as part of the drift to the towns and also because of the armed conflict that went on for several years between the authorities and the PKK.” [76] (p20)
19.09 The ECRI report also stated:
“ECRI is pleased to note that the constitutional and legislative changes in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms should help to give the Kurds greater freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of association. It notes, however, that in the case of the Kurds, such freedoms are still severely curtailed, especially in practice. ECRI notes in particular reports that Kurdish students have been arrested and/or expelled from university for having signed petitions or demonstrated in support of the teaching of Kurdish in universities… In some cases, however, persons who have expressed their Kurdish identity by peaceful means have been acquitted. ECRI hopes that the new laws will pave the way for a rapid improvement in this area. It notes that parents are now permitted by law to give their children Kurdish first names, even though a circular prohibits them from choosing names incorporating the letters Q, W or X, which exist in the Kurdish language but not in the Turkish alphabet.” [76] (p22)