After considerable delay, the National Security Council (NSC) of Turkey at its last meeting gave the final touches to, and voted to accept, the National Program that is a mandatory part of the process of joining the EU. This approval was a decision made not by the government but by the National Security Council. Subsequently the government gave a rationalization for the framework that had been set for it by the generals on the National Security Council.

And so the body that the European Union has declared to be incompatible with its own conception of legality has once again had the last word in a decision that concerns the EU. The EU had demanded that the NSC change its structure and method of operation and retreat to a sphere of action that lies within acceptable boundaries.

However, most Turkish politicians’ conception of democracy does not differ anyhow from that of the generals, who are prepared to solve all difficulties with the bayonet.

Nor does the National Program of Turkey take into account the conditions set in the Document on Partnership for EU Membership, in particular those related to the political criteria for membership. Turkey is continuing to play the same old tune. Some examples:

1.   It is not prepared to lift the barriers to broadcasting and education in mother tongues other than Turkish. On the contrary, it once again confirms the restrictive policy that already exists. Turkey insists that the country’s official language, and thus the language of education, is Turkish, and that this fact „does not prevent the free use of another language or another dialect“. In other words, the regime is perpetuating the status quo and is determined to deny the Kurdish people, who number 20 million, the right to radio and television broadcasts as well as the right to schooling in their mother tongue. Turkey does not have the slightest interest in making even the tiniest change.

2.       On the question of freedom of opinion and freedom of thought, Turkey is also continuing its old policy. A whole series of limitations and conditions hamper the freedom of thought, such as „territorial indivisibility, national security, secularism, the democratic republic, unified state, and protection of national unity“. These limitations are very familiar to us. They are the ones that up to the present day have reduced freedom of  thought to zero. The regime is determined to forbid any kind of criticism to the policies of the government, and to treat criticism as a crime.

Turkey is not even prepared to amend the infamous Paragraph 312 of the Criminal Code, which forbids freedom of thought. It is also determined to preserve the numerous other regulations in the Constitution and other laws which forbid freedom of thought.

3.   In reality, the National Security Council is superior to the government and the parliament and has taken over their functions. The European Parliament had demanded changes in the rights accorded to the National Security Council. But Turkey is making no promises whatsoever with regard to the fulfilling of these demands. On the contrary, it is claiming that the NSC is an advisory body, in an attempt to conceal the actual situation.

Turkey is far removed from fulfilling the requirements for an adjustment to the Copenhagen Criteria, and is not even recognizing the watered-down and adjusted conditions for a partnership for EU membership which the EU concocted especially for Turkey.

Turkey participated in the EU summit meeting in Nice after stating that it recognized the Document on Partnership for EU Membership. Now, less than three months later, it is trampling on its own promises.

The National Program which the Turkish government has presented to the EU shows clearly that the Turkish regime is not prepared to make any concessions by adjusting itself to the standards of the EU, either with regard to the solution of the Kurdish question or in the area of democratization and human rights. It justifies this by referring to its „own reality“ and expects the EU to accept it as a member in its present - i.e. barbaric, repressive, and antidemocratic - condition.

At the beginning of this process, we had already foreseen that Turkey would water down the conditions laid down in the Document on Partnership for EU Membership, and that it would drag its feet as regards compliance. But Turkey’s actual behavior has exceeded even our fears.

How will the EU behave in this situation? Either it will remain true to its principles and resolutions and put a freeze on the membership negotiations as well as financial assistance to Turkey, which of course is conditional on Turkey’s fulfillment of the Copenhagen Criteria. Or it will once again react to the situation of Turkey with „tolerance“. This would mean that certain circles would completely set aside the principles that Turkey has stretched to the point of unrecognizability on account of its own „geostrategic significance“, and that they would thus apply a double standard.

We expect the EU to remain true to its principles. The EU has given Turkey quite enough special conditions and stretched the interpretation of the Copenhagen Criteria quite enough. If Turkey is determined to become a member of the EU, it must immediately take the necessary steps toward the reforms that have been called for. But if Turkey wishes to preserve its present antidemocratic, repressive, and barbarous political structure and to join the EU in this condition - and this is exactly what Turkey wants - then the answer to this blackmail must be a clear „no“.

For the Kurdish people, the situation is clear. The Turkish regime seems to be determined not to recognize the rights of our people and to continue its policy of denial and oppression. It says „no“ to democracy and refuses a peaceful and reasonable solution. We, for our part, will continue our resistance against such a regime in order to gain our rights and freedoms.

The EU must not accept this terrorist and murderous regime as a member. If it did so it would take a position, as NATO has done, that is inimical to the justified resistance of the Kurdish people. If the EU wishes to take a stand, it must take its place on the side of our people, oppressed and deprived of its rights, not on the side of a brutal regime that rules through violence.

These backward leaders of Turkey have as yet derived no benefit from their barbarous and primitive policy, nor will they be able to do so in the future. Their outlook is to blame for the severe political and economic depression in which the country finds itself at present, which is bringing great suffering not only to the Kurdish people but to the Turkish people as well.

The Kurdish nation, one of the great ancient nations of the Near East, is determined to become part of the international community, with freedom and equal rights.

We are struggling for a just cause. In this struggle, we have faith above all in our people’s longing for freedom, our people’s spirit of resistance, and our people’s endless energy.

We are determined to live as decent people in a free country, and we will reach our goal.

One day everyone, even the oppressors that rule Turkey, will see and recognize this.

Kemal Burkay
Secretary General
Socialist Party of Kurdistan (PSK)

21 March 2001