NEWS CENTER – The legal aid fund AZADÎ ev announced in its current information service that 11 Kurdish people are currently imprisoned in Germany because of § 129b. One of them is Kurdish activist Sabri Ç. who was taken into extradition custody in France in June 2022 at the request of the German law enforcement authorities and transferred to Germany in January. Sabri C. is accused of being an alleged member of the PKK, responsible for managing the Saarbrücken and Hanover areas, among other things. Charges are brought against him according to Sections 129a/b of the Criminal Code.
Eleven Kurdish 129b prisoners in Germany
In Germany there are currently ten Kurds and one Kurdish woman as political prisoners in pre-trial and criminal detention. AZADÎ eV has published the following names and addresses:
AYDIN Özgür (Turkish, zazaki), Simmerner Str. 14 A, 56075 Koblenz
BILEN Mirza (Kurdish, Turkish), Markgrafenallee 49, 95448 Bayreuth
CAKIL Gökmen (Kurdish, Turkish, German), Oberhausener Str. 30, 40472 Ratingen
c. Sabri (Kurdish, Turkish), Trierer Landstr. 64, 54516 Wittlich
DORA Mazlum (Kurdish, Turkish) , Asperger Str. 60, 70439 Stuttgart
E. Hafrah (Kurdish, German), Simmerner Str. 14A, 56075 Koblenz
ENGIZEK Ali (Kurdish, Turkish, some German), Asperger Str. 60, 70439 Stuttgart
KIZILKAYA Merdan (Kurdish, Turkish, German), Asperger Str. 60, 70439 Stuttgart
KÖÇER Tahir (Kurdish, Turkish, German), Stadelheimer Str. 12, 81549 Munich
ÖCALAN Abdullah (Kurdish, Turkish, French), Obere Kreuzäckerst. 6, JVA Frankfurt/M. I, 60435 Frankfurt/M.
ÖZEL Ali (Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic), Obere Kreuzäckerstr.6, JVA Frankfurt/M. 1, 60435 Frankfurt/M.
GERMANY IS PARTICIPATING IN THE TURKISH STATE’S GENOCIDE CONCEPT
Merdan K., one of the 11 political prisoners, made a statement to the presiding judge and the Senate during his trial on January 12, describing the political and historical background of the conflicts in Turkey, justifying his activities for Kurdistan and the political repression which he learns from the German state.
Excerpts of his statements are also available in the information service of AZADÎ e. V. appeared and made the following clear:
“In their pleadings, the public prosecutor’s office stated that these proceedings are not directed against the Kurdish people, but against membership in a terrorist organization, i.e. terrorism. […] For 50 years the Turkish state has been telling the world the fairy tale ‘We are not against Kurds, we are against separatism and terrorism’. The German state is telling us the same thing today. That is very remarkable. […]
The Turkish state does not fight terrorism. The Turkish state is clearly anti-Kurdish. This can be seen in every action taken by the state. When hundreds of thousands of Kurds were massacred in Koҫgiri, Agiri, Zilan and Dersim between 1920 and 1940, the PKK did not exist. When the Kurdish uprisings were bloodily suppressed and the Kurdish representatives of the time, such as Sheikh Said and Seyit Riza, were hanged, the PKK didn’t exist either. When the policy of assimilation and annihilation against the Kurdish people came into force, the PKK did not exist.”
WITH “FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM” THEY WANT TO LEGITIZE THEIR WAR CRIMES
What Merdan K. has highlighted is the cooperation of the Turkish and German states in criminalizing the PKK and enforcing the genocide of the Kurds and has declared against the genocide and the ongoing oppression of the Kurdish, Armenian and Alevi societies in Turkey Rêber APO has awakened Kurdish society from a deep sleep whose identity has been deeply buried. Since the Turkish state saw this as a danger to itself, Kurdish society and the PKK must be destroyed as a result. Merdan K said:
“For this, the PKK was labeled a terrorist organization and its goals as separatism.
Because: Terrorists can be tortured, terrorists can be executed, killed and kidnapped. Terrorists can be killed with chemical weapons. They can be incarcerated in prisons seriously ill or disappear behind bars for decades. The parties elected by terrorists can be banned, journalists covering terrorists can be arrested. In short, anything can be done with terrorists. This is the reality of the Turkish state.
For him, the term terrorism is an instrument used to justify or cover up attacks, torture practices and war crimes against Kurds that violate international law.
The PKK is only being criminalized because it is an obstacle to the Turkish state’s neo-Ottoman goals. The allegations of terrorism and separatism are part of that base.”
UNDER THE COVER OF TERRORISM, GERMANY SUPPORTS TURKEY’S CRIMES
Merdan K. made it clear which ideological basis the term “terrorism” or “terrorism” contains. Because people and organizations that are labeled as “terrorist” are today considered neither as human beings nor as holders of any fundamental rights. So the term “terrorism” is a political act to legitimize crimes against humanity and to cover up genocides. Furthermore, Merdan K. made important explanations regarding the policy of the Turkish occupying state and the cooperation with the German federal government and explained:
“If the German state adopts the arguments of the Turkish state and introduces them here, it means that it supports its illegal and inhumane actions against the Kurdish population under the guise of terrorism. He acts just as anti-Kurdish and with his repressions against the Kurds in Germany he is involved in the genocide concept of the Turkish regime. There is no other explanation for the criminal prosecution of Kurdish activists since the 1980s, the raids on legal Kurdish associations, the closing of Kurdish cultural institutions and publishing houses, the banning of Kurdish symbols and the criminalization in Germany via the PKK ban.
Against the background of German-Turkish relations, Kurds are oppressed here and – as in Turkey – excluded from the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly. […]”
LAW AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE PERSECUTION OF KURDISH ACTIVISTS
The 22-year-old Kurdish activist Merdan K. said of the charges against him as a person:
“I’m sitting here today because German-Turkish unity envisages it that way. The German state – like the Turkish state – uses the law as an instrument to persecute Kurdish activists and put them in prison for years. Mr. Chairman, as a representative of the law, you must not allow that to happen.
As a constitutional state, the German state must first take into account the cultural, social and political circumstances of the Kurdish people and come to an assessment. […]
In the 21st century they have no status and are confronted with the Turkish state’s strategy of annihilation through massive attacks on their livelihood, culture, language and identity. The Kurds have a bond with the PKK because it represents their interests. Therefore the ‘Kurdish question’ can only be solved with her and the representative Abdullah Öcalan. Although they agree to this, the Turkish state continues to conduct military operations and isolates the key to a solution. But Abdullah Öcalan is also subject to severe solitary confinement – for 24 years now. […]”
Afterwards, Merdan K. drew attention to the PKK’s fight for the liberation of Ṣengal and Rojava from the IS gangs, went into the practical implementation of democratic confederalism in the regions and pointed out the international attention, the Rêber APO and the PKK by political parties, organisations, trade unions, politicians, lawyers, philosophers, writers and activists around the world who are calling for the PKK to be removed from the EU list of so-called “terrorist organisations ” and the release of Rêber APO.
THE PKK BAN ON ACTIVITY IS POLITICAL AND UNLAWFUL
Finally, Merdan K. explained:
“Only when all aspects of the PKK are taken into account can a legal assessment and correct decision be made. But the German state blocks these views because of its relations with Turkey. The PKK ban on activities has no legal but a political background. This illegality must stop.
This procedure, like all other procedures against Kurdish activists in Germany, exploits the attacks and war crimes of the Turkish state, which violate international law, and the cultural and physical annihilation of the Kurds. […]
With my political activities I took part in the just struggle for liberation of the Kurdish people. I will continue to do so. They are not terrorist, but the actions of the Turkish state against the Kurdish population are. It’s state terror. […]
No matter what decision you make: the Kurdish liberation struggle is legitimate and just. The Kurdish people and the freedom movement will resolutely crush fascism, liberate Kurdistan, break isolation, liberate its representative, and democratize Turkey and the Middle East.”
These and other topics can be found in the current issue of the information service of the legal aid fund AZADÎ e. V. as a pdf under this link .
