 | ||||
Menu
March 31, 2008
News
Time to Boycott Holidays to Turkey!
Kurdishaspect.com - By Hevallo
At the recent Newroz 2008 celebrations, millions of people came out on to the streets to celebrate one of the oldest non-religious, 'people's celebrations' that predates Christianity and Islam. A celebration that marks the freedom struggle of an oppressed people against a tyrannical oppressor.
In parts of Turkey this Kurdish celebration was 'banned' as part of a desperate policy of 'criminalisation' of the Kurds on the part of the Turkish Government and Turkish Generals, joined in an 'unholy alliance' with the specific aim of trying to suppress the Kurdish Freedom Struggle that is at its strongest point in its entire history.
Following the banning, there was a vicious and barbaric assault, (not uncommon) on the Kurdish people who defied the ban and came on to the streets to celebrate their culture and their Freedom Movement, the PKK!
Images travelled from the scenes of torture and beatings through micro scopic wires and satellite transmitters and were soon plastered all over the webpages pages of mainly Kurdish bloggers. The one image that looms large in everyone's memory, (despite hundreds of such incidents and worse, two people being killed and many hundreds of others suffering horrific injuries from systematic beatings and torture.) is that of Cüneyt Ertaş, the young 15 year old Kurdish boy who went out to the shops for his father and never returned.
He now lies in a Turkish jail, denied access to a lawyer and medical attention. His arm broken by a Turkish civilian policeman he embodies and symbolises the repressive policies of the Turkish regime towards the civilian Kurdish population.
Those of us who looked at those images and watched as Kurdish mothers were beaten on the floor, felt rage but also helplessness as the international media ignored it.
What could we do? How can we help the Kurdish Freedom Struggle from Europe and outside of the country?
Turkey spends millions of pounds every year on psychological warfare, to promote Turkey, not as one of the worlds worst abusers of human rights but of a 'Paradise Preserved' and tries to tempt tourists to Turkey with offers of beautiful beaches and exotic cultural experiences.
Now is the time that many people in Europe and beyond will be organising their summer holidays and be thinking of where to go.
Should we, as Pro Kurdish Freedom Struggle bloggers, writers, journalists, intellectuals, campaigners etc not concentrate our minds on a fresh BOYCOTT HOLIDAYS TO TURKEY campaign.
A concerted campaign of BOYCOTT HOLIDAYS TO TURKEY would be doubly effective as the world wide recession begins to bite.
It would help in terms of concentrating minds on the economic benefits of a peaceful solution to The Kurdish Question and also on exposing Turkey's real face behind the images of 'Paradise Preserved'.
We only have to ask people a simple question with the image of Cüneyt Ertaş:
Do you want to support a regime that TORTURES CHILDREN?
BOYCOTT HOLIDAYS TO TURKEY!
SUPPORT THE KURDISH FREEDOM STRUGGLE!
_________________________
| ||||
| ||||
Advertisements
