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The Nation Outside
Some 100 Kurds, mostly intellectuals and artists, staged a day-long demonstration Thursday at the Place des Nations, in front of the Palais where the General Assembly special session is taking place.
They were demanding peace and freedom for Kurdistan, a nation without a country, with a population spread among Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. Some 12 million people live in Turkey, where the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) and the Turkish army were at war for more than 15 years.
They also demanded the freedom of Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader, who was abducted by Turkish agents in Kenya in February 1999 and brought to trial in Turkey, where a state security court sentenced him to death. Under pressure from the European Union and the United States, the sentence has been postponed indefinitely, but prison conditions remain harsh.
In the process, Ocalan and his party have formally abandoned the armed struggle to gain independence and have lowered their demands to a special status within the Turkish state.
But the Kurds, their culture and language just do not officially exist in Turkey and 15 years of war have raised anger and mistrust on both sides. To gain entry to the European Union, it is likely that Turkey will have to settle an agreement with its Kurdish citizens and grant an amnesty to political prisoners.
The Kurd intellectuals accused the Turkish government of the attempted murder of Ocalan by a slow death through harsh prison conditions which reportedly have severely damaged the former guerrilla leader's health.
Read TerraViva
The IPS renowned international newspaper will publish a special edition in Geneva, at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (Copenhagen+5). Follow the conference on line day by day from June 26 through July 1, with exclusive reports by a team of 13 IPS journalists from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, North America and Latin America.
A selection of the IPS Coverage from Geneva will also be carried by TerraViva Daily Journal (New York) and TerraViva Europe (Brussels),.
Has the world lived up to its 1996 commitments..?
Solidarity 2000 starting 17th of June!
MS's big summer event Solidarity 2000 will start very soon now, with a week-long variety of debates and arrangements. The activities range from encounters between young people from Balkan, Africa and Central America to big conferences on the planet's social development and environment.
Judge by yourself:
The 1996 Copenhagen Social Summit final report in English, French and Spanish.