07/12/2004
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“Leyla Zana is free. This is a great success, but it is only for show, a façade.
Turkey is not a democratic country. The Turkish government is simply obsessed
by the December 2004 deadline, a fundamental date for its entry into the European
Union, and is attempting to show the international community that there are signs
of change”.
Eren Keskin is used to fighting and, like all generals, she knows that what counts is not winning a battle, but winning the war. And she hasn’t won it yet. A hairstyle worthy of a Fifties movie star, black eyes, full of life and curiosity, framed by heavy makeup. The first impression, seeing her come forward in the rooms of the Milanese association Punto Rosso, where she will give the interview, is that of a very beautiful woman, used to being listened to because of her capability, sure of herself and of her reasons. She sits down, next to her trusted Lerzan, who is both her friend and fellow militant and also her interpreter. She lights her first cigarette.
This story should begin from the end: Leyla is free. Leyla Zana, together with three members of parliament who are Kurds, as she is, was arrested in 1994 and sentenced to 15 years in jail. Her crime and that of her companions is that of having spoken their language, Kurdish, during the Inauguration pf the Turkish Parliamentary Assembly. From then on, a very harsh legal battle was fought, with Eren Keskin, as defence lawyer for the members of parliament, on the front lines.
In the last few days the High Court of Ankara set Leyla and her companions free, while they are waiting for final sentencing. Eren Keskin is not satisfied, she knows it isn’t over yet. “The final hearing will take place on the 14th of July. One of the legal changes that the European Union has requested from Turkey is that the penalties for political prisoners should be aligned with those for common criminals. This would mean freedom for Leyla and the others.”
“Immediately after their release, as was only to be expected, Leyla and the others
returned to their people, to Dyarbakir”, Keskin explains, “and obviously, they
spoke Kurdish. Promptly, on the 7th of July, the Turkish military pressed charges,
even holding the members of parliament responsible for a traffic jam in what is
considered the capital of Turkish Kurdistan, where people were wild with joy.
Their release has been carefully prepared by the government. It took place on
the same day of the first television program on Turkish history in the Kurdish
language. The reaction of the military gives you a precise idea of the division
that exists now in Turkey,” the lawyer adds, “on the one hand the politicians
want to appease the European Union to enter the Community and therefore they guarantee
respect for the rights of the Kurdish minority and for human and political rights,
on the other hand the military is stubbornly resisting this process.” Eren Keskin
is not only a defence lawyer for Zana and the other members of parliament, she
is also the vice president of the National Association for Human Rights in Turkey.
She has a collection of 130 charges pressed against her, every one of them by
the military, because she has made public the sexual abuse that occurs, in military
barracks, of women arrested for their political activities.
Eren Keskin was also imprisoned, in 1995. She served six months that also cost her a year-long interdiction from practicing law. Twice Keskin has survived attempts on her life and her work earned her the Amnesty International prize in 2001. She knows Turkish society well and, in her opinion, there is only one problem: the military.
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An interview with Eren Keskin, Leyla Zana’s lawyer
“Leyla Zana is free. This is a great success, but it is only for show, a façade.
Turkey is not a democratic country. The Turkish government is simply obsessed
by the December 2004 deadline, a fundamental date for its entry into the European
Union, and is attempting to show the international community that there are signs
of change”.
Eren Keskin is used to fighting and, like all generals, she knows that what counts is not winning a battle, but winning the war. And she hasn’t won it yet. A hairstyle worthy of a Fifties movie star, black eyes, full of life and curiosity, framed by heavy makeup. The first impression, seeing her come forward in the rooms of the Milanese association Punto Rosso, where she will give the interview, is that of a very beautiful woman, used to being listened to because of her capability, sure of herself and of her reasons. She sits down, next to her trusted Lerzan, who is both her friend and fellow militant and also her interpreter. She lights her first cigarette.
This story should begin from the end: Leyla is free. Leyla Zana, together with three members of parliament who are Kurds, as she is, was arrested in 1994 and sentenced to 15 years in jail. Her crime and that of her companions is that of having spoken their language, Kurdish, during the Inauguration pf the Turkish Parliamentary Assembly. From then on, a very harsh legal battle was fought, with Eren Keskin, as defence lawyer for the members of parliament, on the front lines.
In the last few days the High Court of Ankara set Leyla and her companions free, while they are waiting for final sentencing. Eren Keskin is not satisfied, she knows it isn’t over yet. “The final hearing will take place on the 14th of July. One of the legal changes that the European Union has requested from Turkey is that the penalties for political prisoners should be aligned with those for common criminals. This would mean freedom for Leyla and the others.”
“Immediately after their release, as was only to be expected, Leyla and the others
returned to their people, to Dyarbakir”, Keskin explains, “and obviously, they
spoke Kurdish. Promptly, on the 7th of July, the Turkish military pressed charges,
even holding the members of parliament responsible for a traffic jam in what is
considered the capital of Turkish Kurdistan, where people were wild with joy.
Their release has been carefully prepared by the government. It took place on
the same day of the first television program on Turkish history in the Kurdish
language. The reaction of the military gives you a precise idea of the division
that exists now in Turkey,” the lawyer adds, “on the one hand the politicians
want to appease the European Union to enter the Community and therefore they guarantee
respect for the rights of the Kurdish minority and for human and political rights,
on the other hand the military is stubbornly resisting this process.” Eren Keskin
is not only a defence lawyer for Zana and the other members of parliament, she
is also the vice president of the National Association for Human Rights in Turkey.
She has a collection of 130 charges pressed against her, every one of them by
the military, because she has made public the sexual abuse that occurs, in military
barracks, of women arrested for their political activities.
Eren Keskin was also imprisoned, in 1995. She served six months that also cost her a year-long interdiction from practicing law. Twice Keskin has survived attempts on her life and her work earned her the Amnesty International prize in 2001. She knows Turkish society well and, in her opinion, there is only one problem: the military.
“The influence of the military cadres pervades every aspect of life in our country”
says Keskin, “they dominate Turkish life. To start with, they are the real economic
power in Turkey. They have factories, especially arms factories, on which they
pay no taxes, and earn incredible amounts. The military is the key element of
Turkish political life. Since September 1980, when the coup d’état occurred, our
country has had only a pretence of democracy. In actual fact, they maintained
the state of emergency so as to be absolutely indispensable for the country.”
In the West the Turkish military is often seen as an element that guarantees the lay status of the country. Do you agree, Ms. Kreskin? ”Absolutely not”, says the lawyer imperiously, “the military, to keep their influence on Turkish political life, create ad-hoc enemies. Don’t forget that they opened most of the Islamic schools after the coup d’état in 1980. They play up the fear of Islamic fundamentalism to make themselves indispensable. Or they play on the fear of terrorism to repress the Kurdish minority. The military wants an ethnically and religiously homogenous country: a land of Turks and Sunni Muslims. Anyone else does not and should not have anything to say.”
And what does she say to the accusations, which were reprised by the Turkish magazine NOKTA after Zana and the others were released, of connivance between the heads of the Kurdish parties and armed groups such as Ocalan’s former PKK? ”The answer is in Leyla’s comments”, says Keskin, lighting another cigarette on the end of her unfinished one, “she always supported a political solution to the Kurdish problem. She never urged anybody to use weapons.”
What does she expect from the sentencing on the 14th of July? “In Turkey, as I said before, there are two diverging interest groups. The military feel quite differently than the politicians do, and they do not have the slightest desire to be part of Europe,” Kreskin explains, “and much of the judiciary has very close ties to the military. We shall see if the façade strategy prevails and succeeds in proving to Brussels that Turkey is a democratic country. Perhaps only with farcical changes such as abolishing the term ‘state of emergency’ but defining ‘critical cities’, which obviously are Kurdish, or abolishing the Court of National Security and putting the Court Against Organized Crime in its place, which has the same powers and prerogatives.”
The interview is over, but there is time for a last question and for the nth cigarette. Has she ever thought of leaving her militancy and devoting herself to her profession in the traditional sense? “No, never,” says Kreskin, almost before the interpreter is done translating the question, “this is my life. My mother told me that I am Kurdish only when I was fourteen. Then as now, I lived in Istanbul, and I did not think of these things. From then on and after the coup d’état I knew very clearly what I wanted to do with my life. And I am not done yet.”
In the West the Turkish military is often seen as an element that guarantees the lay status of the country. Do you agree, Ms. Kreskin? ”Absolutely not”, says the lawyer imperiously, “the military, to keep their influence on Turkish political life, create ad-hoc enemies. Don’t forget that they opened most of the Islamic schools after the coup d’état in 1980. They play up the fear of Islamic fundamentalism to make themselves indispensable. Or they play on the fear of terrorism to repress the Kurdish minority. The military wants an ethnically and religiously homogenous country: a land of Turks and Sunni Muslims. Anyone else does not and should not have anything to say.”
And what does she say to the accusations, which were reprised by the Turkish magazine NOKTA after Zana and the others were released, of connivance between the heads of the Kurdish parties and armed groups such as Ocalan’s former PKK? ”The answer is in Leyla’s comments”, says Keskin, lighting another cigarette on the end of her unfinished one, “she always supported a political solution to the Kurdish problem. She never urged anybody to use weapons.”
What does she expect from the sentencing on the 14th of July? “In Turkey, as I said before, there are two diverging interest groups. The military feel quite differently than the politicians do, and they do not have the slightest desire to be part of Europe,” Kreskin explains, “and much of the judiciary has very close ties to the military. We shall see if the façade strategy prevails and succeeds in proving to Brussels that Turkey is a democratic country. Perhaps only with farcical changes such as abolishing the term ‘state of emergency’ but defining ‘critical cities’, which obviously are Kurdish, or abolishing the Court of National Security and putting the Court Against Organized Crime in its place, which has the same powers and prerogatives.”
The interview is over, but there is time for a last question and for the nth cigarette. Has she ever thought of leaving her militancy and devoting herself to her profession in the traditional sense? “No, never,” says Kreskin, almost before the interpreter is done translating the question, “this is my life. My mother told me that I am Kurdish only when I was fourteen. Then as now, I lived in Istanbul, and I did not think of these things. From then on and after the coup d’état I knew very clearly what I wanted to do with my life. And I am not done yet.”
Christian Elia
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