Sir, - The Turkish Embassy accuses me (June 5th) of lack of objectivity and lack of regard for the truth. Kurdistan Solidarity Ireland supports the human, political, cultural rights and linguistic rights of Kurdish people; that is the side our work is based on. We believe that Abdullah Ocalan, whatever crimes he is charged with or has confessed to, is entitled to a fair trial. This does not seem to be the case if the statements of his defence team and the criticism of State Security Courts by the European Court of Human Rights are to be believed. We are concerned to learn the truth about the human rights situation of the 12 million-strong Kurdish minority in Turkey. Information we receive from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki and the US State Department, as well as from the much-persecuted Turkish Human Rights Association, indicates that it is appalling, with extra-judicial killings, torture and "disappearances" of Kurdish (and indeed Turkish) political activists.
Reporters Sans Frontieres have now raised concerns about the lack of objectivity in the reportage of the trial for, of the 700 Turkish and foreign journalists who received accreditation to cover the trial of Ocalan, only 20 have permission to attend the hearings every day. Only the Anatoly Press Agency and the Turkish television station TRT are authorised to send live information and to rebroadcast images.
The important issue now is whether Ocalan will be executed, as seems likely. This would again call into question Turkey's claim to be a European-style democracy. More seriously, it would be a grave setback for peace and justice for the Kurds, who as "Turkish citizens" are allowed few freedoms to express their identity, culturally, linguistically or politically. - Yours, etc.,
Anne McCluskey, Co-ordinator, Kurdistan Solidarity Ireland, Upper Camden Street, Dublin 2.