Kurds respond to 'un-Australian' jibe
By Kerryn Williams
MELBOURNE — The Kurdish community demonstrated outside the Greek consulate on February 17 in response to the abduction of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. The Australian government, the Labor opposition and the capitalist media condemned the protests. Ahmet Bulut, secretary of the Kurdish Association of Victoria, told Green Left Weekly the protest was to demonstrate support for Ocalan and express concern for his safety and health.
"This is an emotional issue for the Kurds; this is a part of their lives. It's not just about Abdullah Ocalan. They have relatives, fathers and mothers, in Turkey, so they're really concerned", Bulut pointed out.
"The Turkish government doesn't want a peaceful solution. They've tried to shut down HADEP [People's Democracy Party], the legal Kurdish political party. They attacked the HADEP headquarters and arrested its members. That shows us that Turkey doesn't understand the language of peace. That's why the demonstrations happened in Melbourne, Sydney and all over Europe."
Bulut said that Kurdish people are desperate. "Government policy is that if two people live in a house, then one kilo of sugar for one month is allowed for that house. Even if you have money you can't buy things, because the government says you'll take it to the Kurdish guerillas."
In response to the Australian government's labelling of the Kurdish demonstrations as "un-Australian", Bulut said: "Kurds don't have a demonstration for fun. The Australian government mentioned their concern about the demonstration, but they didn't say what they thought about the Kurdish issue. Do they support it being solved in a peaceful way? Or do they want a military solution?
"The government said the demonstration was violent, but why was it violent? At the Melbourne demonstration there was a can of petrol, and the police tried to get it. Instead of approaching the organisers to say that there is a problem and to try to resolve it, they jumped into the crowd and made it worse.
"The media covered our demonstration, but it never mentioned how many Kurdish villages have been destroyed, how many Kurds have been killed, how many Kurds are in jail. Why are we in Australia? Why are Kurds in this country? Because the Turkish government forced us to come here. What rights have Kurds got in Kurdistan? Can they speak their own language? Do they have their own schools? None of this exists."
Bulut told Green Left Weekly that Australian Kurds are demanding that the Australian government intervene to ensure the safety of Ocalan and that he get a fair trial in an international court.
Kurds also want Canberra to support the demand that "the Kurdish question be solved in a political way" that guarantees the Kurdish people's basic rights. "We've mentioned this to the Australian government, but they haven't responded", Bulut said.
"We would like to ask the Australian government, the Australian public and our friends to understand our struggle. We didn't come here to give Australian people a hard time, or to go into the streets and have some fun, to shout and make noise. The Kurdish people are really suffering. That's why they were demonstrating."