What the killing of a Kurdish human rights lawyer means for Turkey
Hande Yalnizoglu/Al-Monitor/December 02/15
Sur is the 7,000-year-old historic district of the southeast Anatolian city of Diyarbakir. Its well-preserved Roman fortifications bear the marks of several civilizations that came to life by the banks of the Tigris River. Inside the historic walls are mazelike streets lined with ramshackle one-story houses painted in the brightest shades of pink, blue and yellow. On a typical day, the main artery is filled with vendors selling everything from vegetables and school supplies to CDs of Kurdish music. Until over a year ago, foreign tourists could be found scavenging around the numerous historical sites tucked away in the small alleyways.Then came the advances of the Islamic State in bordering Iraq and Syria, such as its capture of Mosul in June 2014, scaring away potential visitors. Even worse has been the renewed violence between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) since July, engulfing the district in violence not seen since peace negotiations started in 2013. A few days ago, Sur was shocked by the assassination of Tahir Elci, prominent human rights lawyer and the head of Diyarbakir’s bar association. On the morning of Nov. 28, Elci stood in front of the bullet-ridden Four-Footed Minaret – a 500-year old mosque minaret whose unique split legs symbolize the four sects of Islam. Regarded as a symbol of unity within the religion, the minaret is also believed to bestow luck on all who walk beneath its legs. It was badly damaged last week in clashes between the police and members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), a group involved in urban guerilla operations and ideologically affiliated with the PKK.
“The historic minaret is calling out to humanity,” declared Elci. “It is saying, ‘They shot me in my feet. I have seen wars and disasters but have never seen such betrayal.'”Like other Kurdish towns, Sur witnessed senseless violence erupt over the summer. A bomb detonated by IS in the border town of Suruc killed 33 members of socialist youth federations in July. The PKK retaliated by killing two police officers it claimed had links with the terror group. The peace process collapsed. The government launched widespread anti-terror operations while dozens of security personnel were killed in PKK attacks. Hundreds of Kurdish politicians and activists have been arrested. In what was largely seen as a political move to win back the Kurdish vote lost in June by offering the population with a choice between stability or conflict, Kurdish towns like Silvan, Cizre and Nusaybin were targeted in curfews and harsh operations under a complete media blackout. Such draconian measures continue to this day. Journalist Fatih Pinar documented the situation in Sur, which was put under curfew for four days in October. In his video, traumatized residents describe the killing of Helin Sen, a 12-year old girl shot by the police on her way to a bakery during curfew hours. A man describes how he lost all his animals that were terrified by the sounds of the clashes. One young boy summarizes the events with an odd smile on his face: “There was war here for four days.” After the curfew was lifted, sporadic clashes continued between security forces and the YDG-H, damaging historical sites. On Saturday, Elci called for “wars, arms, clashes, operations” to end “in this common site of humanity, which was home to numerous civilizations.”In the last decade, several Kurdish mayors made significant efforts to restore the multicultural heritage of Sur, which is home to Syriac and Chaldean churches, synagogues and mosques built over centuries. The most significant was the 2011 restoration of Surp Giragos, one of the largest Armenian churches in the Middle East. Since then, the church has attracted Armenians from all over the world searching for their roots in the city that was home to their families until the tragedy of 1915. The man most credited for the restoration, former Sur Mayor Abdullah Demirbas, was among hundreds arrested in August for alleged links to the PKK.
Elci, who defended Demirbas on several occasions, embodied the same humanistic values. He worked tirelessly on cases of torture and forced disappearances that took place during the state’s security operations of the 1990s. Some of his most arduous work was in defending the rights of religious minorities. Nurcan Baysal, a columnist for the website T24, quoted the sentiments of Gule Simsek, a Chaldean woman whose husband disappeared in 1993. She said that Elci, who was their lawyer, “was not important just for the Kurds. He was important for people from every identity, religion, ethnicity in Kurdistan.”
Elci had recently entered the spotlight for his statement that the PKK was not a terror group but rather an armed political movement. Soon after, he was arrested for engaging in terrorist propaganda but released pending trial. A brutal media campaign targeted him with death threats and insults. On his Twitter account, he was defiant, writing, “Whoever is afraid of you is as vile as yourself.”He held that his statement did not suggest blanket sympathy for the PKK but was rather an outcry directed at nationalists that an organization with a vast social base among Turkey’s Kurds couldn’t be eradicated by security measures. In one of his last interviews with Aydinlik newspaper in October, he had criticized the organization’s guerilla strategies of digging trenches, building barricades and forcing children to boycott school. The PKK’s “people’s war is against the people,” he said. “It damages the foundations of coexistence.”
While an investigation has been opened, there is little hope that his true killers will be identified. While pro-government newspapers such as the Daily Sabah place the blame on the PKK, Peoples’ Democratic Party co-chair Selahattin Demirtas claimed that a police bullet killed Elci. Tragically, Turkey’s scarred political history is no stranger to killings of prominent figures whose honest politics of moderation threaten certain interests in society or the state. The case of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who dedicated his life to peace and was shot in front of his office in 2007, remains unresolved after almost a decade.
In his final message, Elci asserted that societies that do not own their history cannot build secure futures. Both the history he wanted to protect and the future he wanted to build were ones of peaceful coexistence. As Turkey enters another political episode defined by violence and confrontation, it is such voices of peace and moderation that are in the greatest danger. With their silence, the already too fragile bonds of society are at risk of irreparable damage.
UAE National Day: United we stand, united we succeed
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/December 02/15
Dec. 2, 1971 was much more than a simple signing of a treaty, it changed our lives forever. It broke down not only physical borders and barriers, but over time it brought the leaders of seven neighboring states together as one body, moving in the same direction towards peace and prosperity. And what an incredible journey it has been! Some call it miraculous. Working hand-to-hand, we turned desert wastelands and small fishing villages into magnificent modern metropolises. Whereas we once dug wells for water, today we have spectacular fountains, waterways, vast green spaces and flower-lined streets. Every modern innovation is available in this land of opportunity, the envy of the region and the world. Most importantly, Emiratis and foreign residents alike, have the advantage of living in safety in a country that perfectly balances freedom with security, a country that is free of corruption, one that is admired for its honesty and transparency. It always saddens me each time I hear foreign human rights organizations criticize the Emirates for running a tight ship in a climate where danger lurks ready to strike. This is a country of laws. We have rules meant to keep people safe, so they can enjoy life to the full without fear. Such laws and rules are well publicized and those who wilfully break them know they will face justice.
Dealing with the global terrorist threat
Our government is right to deal harshly with those seeking to do us harm before they have an opportunity to implement their plots. We are not an open house for criminals or spies. We do not accept our children to be harassed by drug dealers. We welcome all visitors with open arms as long as they respect our cultural norms. And at a grave moment in history when Europe is vulnerable to terrorist attacks and rightly pulling up the drawbridge, due to sheer geographical proximity to the terrorists’ breeding grounds, our government is right to deal harshly with those seeking to do us harm before they have an opportunity to implement their plots.In truth, were Arab countries splintering from terrorism, sectarianism and secessionists to emulate the inclusive spirit of the United Arab Emirates where people of all nationalities and religions live together in harmony, the area would be devoid of conflicts.
Wars not only destroy a nation’s economic growth and its infrastructure, it envelops the souls of its citizens with a cloud of hopelessness, pessimism and consumes their inherent love of a country. The Emirates is always willing to assist its fellow Arab states to emerge from a dark tunnel in the same way it is currently supporting Egypt emerging from four years of turmoil on its economic blueprint.
A shining example
And once the bombs stop falling and the nests of terrorists are eradicated, it is my hope that they will look to our country as a shining example and seek our expertise in bringing people together pulling in the same direction instead of pulling apart. That requires a certain type of leadership, one in which its citizen’s needs are paramount. People need to be educated and made to understand that western-style democracy cannot be transplanted; we have seen how that has worked in the years since the misnamed ‘Arab Spring’ which turned reasonably stable Arab states with rich natural resources into impoverished hotbeds of violence and terrorism. When we look around us, our hearts go out to the suffering of so many of our Arab brothers and sisters, but at the same time we must thank our lucky stars that we are not in the same boat. Actually, the stability we enjoy has less to do with luck than our hybrid system of governance allowing our leaders to make fast decisions in cases of emergency without having to plead with lawmakers as Britain’s David Cameron is now doing to get permission to bomb Daesh, which is threatening his country’s shores and has already attacked Britain’s major ally France. Will the British Parliament still be debating if, God forbid, London comes under attack? Arab leaderships must develop sufficient confidence to formulate a way of government that suits their country’s unique demands instead of bowing to the demands of foreign powers to work towards becoming clones. They should not favor one community or sect over another but should endeavor to envelop all under one flag, just as the Emirates has always done.
Founding fathers
For this we owe our abiding gratitude for the initiative of the UAE’s founding fathers the late Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and Dubai’s late ruler Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. These great men understood the importance of unity and together strove to achieve what to others seemed like an impossible dream. They treated all citizens like their own children. They nurtured our soil as if it was their own gardens. Their legacy of care was inherited by their sons who guide us ever onwards and upwards today.
They taught us that with the strength of will combined with imagination there is no mountain too high to climb. I was privileged to know them. Their wise words of advice will always be inscribed on my mind. They exchanged separation for solidarity and it is that feeling of ‘one for all and all for one’ that binds us so tightly together that we are invincible. The close collaboration between the Emiratis, people and leadership is not only exemplary, but also rare, and especially so in the troubled neighborhood in which we live. Nov. 30th, ‘Martyrs’ Day’ commemorated our courageous soldiers’ selfless duty and reminds us that some of our bravest and best are no longer with us. No one understands the importance of service to the country more than me. I was ready to take up arms in 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait had I been called to defend my country. I am proud that some of my grandsons have recently enrolled in the UAE Army where they are learning self-discipline, brotherhood and greater love of our precious soil. Finally, I salute our leaders, our young men in uniform prepared for the ultimate sacrifice and our people, who have committed their talents over the past 44 years to making the United Arab Emirates a success story beyond parallel. I pray for the safety, security and sustainability of our growth and the leading position we are forging in the world. And I am sure that whatever fate throws in our way our unity of purpose will ensure we will always prevail.
Boredom at the ballot box in Egypt
Abdallah Schleifer/Al Arabiya/December 02/15
It’s almost all over. A parliamentary election for Egypt’s House of Representatives, which has dragged on for over a month and has been about as boring as it has been complicated, is drawing to a close. There have been two stages to the elections, each with a run-off and a complicated ballot in which the large majority of seats has been contested by individuals running as “independents”. A minority – about 25 percent – of the total seats in the new parliament have been contested by party lists and there are so many candidates for the “independent” seats that in most cases in the first round, and now in the second round, no candidate had secured a majority of the vote. In the first round of the second stage there were 2,803 candidates competing to fill 222 seats for “independents”, and 196 individuals competing for the 60 seats for party lists.
Political alliances
There are four serious alliances – broad coalitions combining parties and leading personalities – and one party running outside of the alliances, all of which support President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to a greater or lesser degree. In the 2014 presidential election, Sisi encouraged Sabahi to remain in the race. He welcomed the opposition. This time around Sisi did not do so. That was a mistake. The For The Love of Egypt coalition – which includes three political parties including Wafd, the oldest liberal political party in Egypt, and two post-Mubarak era parties – is believed by many Egyptians to be the alliance favored by Sisi. The president denies that he is supporting any alliance, but the feeling persists and For The Love of Egypt has swept all of the party list seats. It is no secret that the various alliances backed a number of candidates for the “independent” seats, which is why I put the word within quotation marks. For The Love of Egypt-backed candidates took a large number of those seats in the first-stage run-off, and are expected to do well in the second stage, and could conceivably end up with a majority of the seats in the new parliament.
The big surprise is that the Salafist al-Nour Party – which did so well in the last parliamentary election, having coming in second behind the Muslim Brotherhood’s party – has done so poorly this time around.
But the Salifists are not one organized and disciplined movement like the Brotherhood. Rather it is a religious perspective in which each individual Salifi sheikh, of which there could easily be two thousand in Egypt, and his immediate followers constitute a movement. Many Salifis who voted for al-Nour the first time around, when the party participated in a short-lived coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood, were opposed to the party’s support for the army after it deposed former President Mohammad Mursi. They are expressing that by boycotting this election.And of course the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters have boycotted this election. While most of the Brotherhood cadre, and all of its leaders, are either in prison or in exile, the ordinary voter supportive of the Brotherhood, be they member or sympathizer, has stayed at home following orders to boycott. If an estimated 25 percent of the registered voters are members or sympathizers of the Brotherhood, it would be reasonable to assume that at least 40 percent of the many Egyptians who boycotted the elections did so out of sympathy for the Brotherhood.
Voter fatigue
What about the rest? Many are simply suffering voter fatigue: Since the January 2011 uprising, there have been two elections for parliament, at least two referendums and two presidential elections. The Egyptian youth was most notably absent from the lines of voters in this election. Many had participated in the 2011 uprising, and their high hopes of dramatic change in both the political and economic life of the country have not materialized. They are at best bored with politics – and, at worst, they are now hostile to Sisi. But one of the reasons for the boredom is that there was no real opposition party alliance in the race. That is because two small but serious parties – the Al-Dostour party and Socialist alliance – boycotted the elections. If those two parties had formed an opposition alliance of their own, many of those who stayed at home might have come out to vote. Their decision to boycott, for whatever reasons, was a mistake.
In the 2014 presidential election, when the one opposition candidate Hamdeen Sabahi came under pressure from some of Sisi’s most over-enthusiastic – or, conceivably, opportunistic – voices in the local media to drop out of the contest, it was Sisi whom spoke out and encouraged Sabahi to remain in the race. He welcomed the opposition. This time around President Sisi did not do so. That too was a mistake.
