Kurds begin hunger strike
By Kim Bullimore
CANBERRA — On November 18, members of the Australian Kurdish community began an indefinite hunger strike on the lawns of Parliament House in protest at the arrest of Kurdish independence leader Abdullah Ocalan in Rome.
Ocalan has applied for political asylum in Italy and has appealed to the Italian government to help find a peaceful political solution to the Kurdish issue.
The Australian Kurds have join hundreds of other Kurdish people on hunger strike in Frankfurt, Cologne, Mannheim, Stuttgart, The Hague, London, Rome and many other cities. Twenty-two Kurdish activists from Australia have flown to Rome to join the protests there.
According to Kurdish activist Yurdagul, the Australian hunger strike will continue until Ocalan's political status is clarified.
"The Turkish authorities see him as a terrorist, but our leader has announced a cease-fire at least three times, but the Turkish government has ignored them. They are spending billions of dollars in keeping the Kurdish people under military suppression", Yurdagul said.
The Australian Kurdish Association has written to the Italian prime minister, minister for justice and minister for foreign affairs to urge them to help the Kurdish people to seek "a peaceful settlement".
The letter describes Ocalan as the "heart, soul and representative of the hopes and aspirations of 40 million Kurdish people around the world". "Granting Mr Ocalan political status would give Turkey the message that other countries do not share its view of the Kurdish struggle for human rights", the letter said.
Nuran, an activist from Sydney, said that the Kurdish struggle has received the support of human rights organisations, socialist groups and democratic people from around the world. These groups, she said, recognise Ocalan as the leader of the Kurdish people, "who are struggling for independence, democracy and freedom".
"We want the question of our nationhood to be resolved in a political manner. We don't want war, we want peace. Every nation has the right to exercise its culture and traditions. We want to be known as a nation, as Kurds", Nuran told Green Left Weekly.
Nuran and Yurdagul agreed that if "the Kurdish problem is not solved, there will be no peace in the Middle East". The Kurdish people were "determined to get our rights and we will fight until the end to get them", they said.
The hunger strikers ask Green Left Weekly readers and their organisations to add their voices to the growing chorus calling for Ocalan to be granted political asylum in Italy. Send faxes to: Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema at 39 6 678 41 21, justice minister Oliveiro Diliberto at 39 6 5227 85 50, foreign affairs minister Lamberto Dini at 39 6 3691 20 15 or interior minister Rosa Russo Iervolino at 39 6 4654 95 34.
[More coverage on page 19.]