Kurdistan Communities Union
Kurdistan Communities Union Koma Civakên Kurdistanê (KCK) | |
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Cemil Bayık | |
Structure | |
Political groups | |
Website | |
https://kck-info.com |
The Kurdistan Communities Union (Kurdish: Koma Civakên Kurdistanê, KCK) is a Kurdish political organization committed to implementing Abdullah Öcalan's ideology of democratic confederalism.[1] The KCK also serves as an umbrella group for several confederalist political parties of Kurdistan, including the Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Democratic Union Party (PYD), Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), and Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party (PÇDK). Finland and Sweden's alleged support for the KCK, is one of the points which caused Turkey to oppose Finland and Sweden's NATO accession bid.[2][3]
Structure
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KCK contract defines the highest authority of the organization in Article 11 as follows:
The Founder and Leader of Kurdistan Democratic Society Confederalism is Abdullah Öcalan. He is the philosophical, theoretical and strategic theorist of democracy based on ecology and gender freedom. He is the leadership institution that represents the entire people in every field. He oversees the fundamental policies regarding the free and democratic life of the people of Kurdistan, and is the final decision-maker on fundamental issues. He oversees the compliance of Kongra Gel General Assembly decisions with the line of the democratic, ecological and gender freedom revolution. He appoints the President of the Executive Council. He approves the Executive Council decisions on key issues.[4]
Although
There are several subdivisions of the KCK: the ideological centre, the social and cultural centre, the political centre, the ecology centre, the economic centre and the Free Society centre.[9] Each centre has several committees which are responsible to implement the resolutions of the Kongra-Gel.[10] There also exists an autonomous Peoples Protections centre.
As Article 21 of the KCK contract details, provincial-regional assemblies come into being in compliance with the geographical and ethno-cultural characteristics of the countries in which they operate. Within the scope of the KCK formation, Turkey has been divided into four province-regions. These are namely,
Ideology
The philosophy of the KCK is described in the foreword to the agreement (sözleşme) that the Kurdistan People's Congress (Kongra-Gel) accepted on 17 May 2005.[13] It was written by the leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan on March 20, 2005.[13] Having described the need for a democratic confederalism, Öcalan went on to say:
The democratic confederalism of Kurdistan is not a State system, it is the democratic system of a people without a State ... It takes its power from the people and adopts to reach self sufficiency in every field including economy. The democratic confederalism is the movement of the Kurdish people to found their own democracy and organize their own social system ... The democratic confederalism is the expression of the democratic union of the Kurdish people that have been split into four parts and have spread all over the world ... It develops the (notion of) a democratic nation instead of the nationalist-statist nation based on strict borders.
Abdullah Öcalan advocated for the implementation of "radical democracy" in the KCK.[14] Murat Karayılan, the head of the KCK after Öcalan, explained the principle of democratic con-federalism in his book Bir Savaşın Anatomisi (Anatomy of a War):
The alternative is the independent self-declaration of the democratic confederal system. ... The society should be independent, the nation should be independent. Yet, the main purpose should be for independent nations to form a democratic nation community together and based on equality, within a confederal system ... It is a system of partnering, where various cultures live together.[15] The aim is a "union of equity and free will".[16]
The ideology of democratic confederalism draws heavily on theories of
Political representation
In addition to the PKK, political parties such as the PJAK (Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê - The Free Life Party of Kurdistan, in Kurdish) are active in Iran and the PYD (Partiya Yekiti a Demokratik - Democratic Union Party, in Kurdish) active in Syria, as well as civil society organizations.[15] In Iraq the party is called the PÇDK (Partiya Çaresera Demokratik Kurdistan - Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party, in Kurdish).[11]
Peoples protections centre
This centre is responsible for grant training to the armed forces in order to provide security to the citizens of the KCK.[18]
Some of the armed forces within the KCK are the
History
The idea of the KCK was proposed at the 5th Congress of the Kongra-Gel (Kongra Gelê Kurdistan – Kurdistan People's Congress) held in Qandil in May 2007, and it replaced the KKK, which had been in existence since 2005. The KKK, standing for Koma Komalên Kurdistanê, was established at the Kongra-Gel's 3rd Congress in Qandil with 236 delegates in May 2005, in accordance with Öcalan's concept of democratic confederalism.[15] At the 3rd Congress of Kongra-Gel, at which the KKK was established, the organizational chart identified a Kongra-Gel Presidency Council of five individuals, eleven Permanent Commissions, a Court of Justice of seven individuals, and a KKK Executive Council Presidency of seven individuals. In this 3rd Congress, Zübeyir Aydar was made the Kongra-Gel President, and Murat Karayılan was appointed as President of the KKK Executive Council.[15]
In May 2007, at the 5th Congress in Qandil attended by 213 members representing the Kurds in Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq and abroad, the KKK's name was changed to the KCK. The KCK was envisaged as an umbrella organization covering the Kurds of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, as opposed to the Turkey-focused organization of the KKK.[15]
Detentions and court cases of alleged members
Between April 2009 and October 2010 some 1,800 people were detained by Turkey on charges of being members of KCK.[20] Most of them were politicians active in the then closed down Democratic Society Party (DTP) or the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).[21] Trade unionists and human rights defenders have also been among the detainees.[22]
At the beginning of October 2011, there had been 7,748 detentions since April 2009, of whom 3,895 suspects were placed in pre-trial detention.[23] 4,148 detentions had been reported in just the past six months, resulting in 1,548 arrest warrants.[23] In an answer to the progress report of the European Union of 12 October 2011,[24] The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on 14 October 2011 that a total of 605 people suspected of membership of KCK remained in pre-trial detention.[25] By July 2012, the Democratic Turkey Forum had identified 54 trials against alleged members of KCK, involving 1,818 defendants, some 800 of them in pre-trial detention. A different count on detentions and arrests lead to an estimate of 4,250 detentions and 2,400 arrests in three years.[12]
Most suspects have been charged with membership of an illegal organization under Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code. Special heavy penal courts in various cities such as
The main trial in Diyarbakir
On 18 October 2010, the main trial started at Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court No. 6. It involved 151 defendants, 103 of them in pre-trial detention. The 7578-page indictment was prepared in 15 months. The detainees requested that they be allowed to defend themselves in Kurdish during the trial. The court rejected the request.[26]
After 14 hearings Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court No. 6 adjourned the case on 11 November 2010 to 13 January 2011. It did not allow the defendants to testify in Kurdish pointing at a decision of Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court No. 4 of 10 November 2010 stating that the defendants should not be allowed to speak Kurdish since they had testified to the police and the arresting judge in Turkish.[27][28] The trial continued in 2011 and 2012. On 19 June 2012 another hearing was held, while the number of defendants still was 152 (99 of them pre-trial detention) and 19 "on the run".[12] In March 2017, 111 of the defendants were sentenced to prison terms, ranging from 14 months to 21 years imprisonment. Ahmet Türk, a former Mayor of Mardin was sentenced to 15 months and Hatip Dicle the co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) to 9 years imprisonment. 16 of the defendants were sentenced to 21 years while 43 were found not guilty.[29]
The trials in Istanbul
At the end of 2011 waves of detentions of alleged KCK member were reported from Istanbul and related areas.[30] It took quite some time to prepare the relevant indictments. In March 2012 the 2400-page indictment against 193 people -147 of the pre-trial detainees- was sent to Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 15.[31] Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 16 accepted indictment against 50 defendants (almost all of them lawyers) on 18 April 2012.[32] In the case of the journalists Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 15 accepted indictment on 11 May 2012 and scheduled the first hearing for 10 September 2012.[33]
When the main trial in Istanbul started the number of defendants had increased to 205, 140 of them in pre-trial detention.[34] On the second day a speaker from the national TV and radio stations TRT started to read a 133-page summary of the indictment.[35] After the 8th session Istanbul Heavy Penal Court 15 decided on a lengthy break until 1 November 2012 and ordered the release of 16 defendants, including Prof. Dr. Büşra Ersanlı . In April 2012 15 defendants including the publisher and human rights activist Ragıp Zarakolu had been released.[36]
On 16 July 2012 Istanbul Heavy Penal Court 16 started to hear the case of 50 defendants, 46 of them lawyers and 36 of them in pre-trial detention.[37] The 892 page indictment accuses the defendants to have formed a "committee of the leadership" (tr: Önderlik Komitesi) and asked for sentences between 7.5 and 22.5 years' imprisonment. After the third session the court released nine defendants and adjourned the hearing to 6 November 2012.[38]
Other trials
As of July 2012, at least 13 trials have resulted in verdicts.
Criticism of the judicial procedures
The trials raised a series of fair trial concerns common to cases involving terrorism charges, including prolonged pre-trial detention and limitations on access by defendants and their lawyers to the evidence against them.
References
- ^ Öcalan, Abdullah,Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan Archived 2016-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, 20-03-2005, (English)
- Jacobin(in German). Retrieved 2022-05-26.
- ^ Richard, Milne (2022-05-20). "Sweden's Nato ambitions run into Kurdish row". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
- ^ "KCK Contract (Turkish)". Archived from the original on 2015-11-24. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
- ^ a b "KCK (Union des communautés du Kurdistan), une alternative à l'Etat-nation". Amitiés kurdes de Bretagne (in French). 2013-07-20. Archived from the original on 2023-01-13. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
- ^ Aydar roept op tot eenheid KKK, PUK, KDP Archived 2012-03-15 at the Wayback Machine, Article in Dutch, dated 13 April 2007, accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ Zübeyir Aydar: 'Military operations are going to begin' Archived 2011-01-03 at the Wayback Machine; Interview in English dated 29 April 2010. In this interview Zübeyir Aydar stated: "KCK has an assembly. This assembly is Kongra-Gel. Furthermore, within Kongra-Gel there's an elected executive council... The PKK is a limited segment within the movement which is given the name KCK. Abdullah Öcalan takes the highest position. After that there's the Assembly, and following that the Executive Council. The chairman of the 31-member Executive Council is Murat Karayılan."
- ^ Can, Eyüp (14 July 2013). "PKK Changes Leadership". (trans. Timur Göksel). Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2014. Originally published as Karayılan'ı kim niye gönderdi? in Radikal, 11 July 2013.
- ISBN 9781138195295.
- ISBN 9781138195295.
- ^ a b c The Structure and Activities of the Terrorist Organization Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), Article by Assoc. Prof. Atilla SANDIKLI, dated 14 October 2011; accessed on 21 July 2012 Archived 17 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e Backgrounder on the KCK Archived 2019-07-26 at the Wayback Machine, Article by the German group "Democratic Turkey Forum", July 2012, accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ a b An unofficial translation of the Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan Archived 2016-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ See Aziz Istegün: Is the KCK a party, an organization or an alternative state structure? Archived 2011-11-10 at the Wayback Machine in Sunday's Zaman of 6 November 2011: "The goals of this structure are defined as such: 'To create a society in Kurdistan based on the principles of radical democracy, that lives according to the essential elements of democratic societal co-federalism, and which is organized democratically, based on equality of the genders and ecological awareness. To fight against every kind of backwardness in Kurdish society, and to both create and advance individual and societal spiritual and financial development."
- ^ ISBN 978-605-5832-02-5and was published in March 2012. Accessed on 18 July 2012
- ^ Nihat Kaya, Şevin Bingöl, Nalin Penaber, Sinan Cudi, Baki Gül,PKK'den KKK'ya yeni bir sistem -3- Archived 2010-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, Özgür Gündem Archived 2009-06-21 at archive.today, 08/10/2006, (Turkish)
- ^ Biehl, Janet (16 February 2012). "Bookchin, Öcalan, and the Dialectics of Democracy". New Compass. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
- ^ ISBN 9781138195295.
- ^ Seemann Saed, (2017), p. 65
- ^ The Milliyet of 19 October 2010 Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 24 October 2010
- ^ See a special report of the Democratic Turkey Form Archived 2018-11-05 at the Wayback Machine of October 2010; accessed on 24 October 2010
- ^ See special report of the Democratic Turkey Forum Archived 2023-01-13 at the Wayback Machine (DTF) of June 2009; accessed on 24 October 2010 and special report of the DTF in March 2010 ; accessed on 24 October 2010
- ^ a b The article in Bianet of 6 October 2011 Archived 28 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 7 October 2011 presented a report of the Peace and Freedom Party (BDP) as the source
- ^ The complete report is available as pdf-file Archived 2011-10-27 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 19 October 2011
- ^ See the article in Radikal of 14 October 2011 Archived 4 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 19 October 2011
- ^ See an article in Hürriyet Daily News of 19 October 2010 Archived 2023-01-13 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 24 October 2010
- ^ See the daily Milliyet of 11 November 2010 Archived 13 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Also see a special report of the Democratic Turkey Forum on the use of the Kurdish language in court Archived 2023-01-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Verdict Announced in KCK Main Case". Bianet. 29 March 2017. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ At the beginning of October 2011 146 people were detained (98 of them were placed in pre-trial detention) and at the end of October 2011 another 50 people were detained (43 arrested). See the German report of the DTF Verfahren gegen die KCK Archived 2023-01-13 at the Wayback Machine. At the end of November 2011 43 people (mostly lawyers) were detained and 33 were taken in pre-trial detention, on or around 24 December 2011 48 people were detained (mostly journalists) and 36 were put in prison. See Backgrounder on the KCK Archived 2019-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ See the daily report of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey Archived 2023-01-13 at the Wayback Machine HRFT for 17–20 March 2012], accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ See the daily report for 19 April 2012 of the HRFT Archived 13 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ See the daily report of the HRFT for 12-14 May 2012 Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ See Bianet of 2 July 2012 Archived 4 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 20 July 2012
- ^ See Bianet of 3 July 2012 Archived 6 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ See the daily Radikal of 13 July 2012 Archived 15 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ See Bianet of 16 July 2012 Archived 28 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ See the daily Radikal of 19 July 2012; accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ See the daily report of the HRFT for 29 November 2011 Archived 13 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Ağrı KCK Trial: Prison Sentences of almost 92 Years". Bianet. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ a b See Today's Zaman of 28 February 2012: Appeals court calls KCK a terrorist organization again Archived 2012-03-02 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ A report of Human Rights Watch of 18 April 2011 entitled Turkey: Kurdish Party Members’ Trial Violates Rights Archived 2020-02-23 at the Wayback Machine, Prolonged Detention, Prosecution of Elected Mayors Highlight Terrorism Law Misuse. Accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ The progress report of the European Union (EU) Archived 2011-10-27 at the Wayback Machine 12 October 2011, accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ HRW in a report of 1 November 2011 entitled Turkey: Arrests Expose Flawed Justice System Archived 2020-02-24 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ Amnesty International in a report of 10 November 2011 entitled Turkey : KCK a rrests deepen freedom of expression concerns Archived 2018-11-22 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 21 July 2012
- ^ a b The Diyarbakir trial against the KCK Archived 2011-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 21 July 2012
External links
- kck-info.com - Kurdistan Communities Union official website in English
- First indictment against the KCK in Turkish Archived 2013-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 21 October 2010. It carries the date of 25 May 2009 and was directed against just one defendant, Serdar ZİRİĞ, who now is defendant 154 in the main trial against KCK members in Diyarbakır that started on 18 October 2010.
- Indictment of the main trial in Istanbul (the indictment as PDF file[permanent dead link] or as word (DOCX) file
- Democratic Turkey Forum (DTF): Backgrounder on the Group of Communities in Kurdistan, KCK