INSTITUT KURD E DE PARIS Information and liaison bulletin N°323 february 2012 The publication of this Bulletin enjoys a subsidy from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGCID) aqnd the Fonds d’action et de soutien pour l’intégration et la lutte contre les discriminations (The Fund for action and support of integration and the struggle against discrimination) This bulletin is issued in French and English Price per issue : France: 6 € — Abroad : 7,5 € Annual subscribtion (12 issues) France : 60 € — Elsewhere : 75 € Monthly review Directeur de la publication : Mohamad HASSAN Numéro de la Commission Paritaire : 659 15 A.S. ISBN 0761 1285 INSTITUT KURDE, 106, rue La Fayette - 75010 PARIS Tel. : 01-48 24 64 64 - Fax : 01-48 24 64 66 www.fikp.org E-mail: bulletin@fikp.org Information and liaison bulletin Kurdish Institute of Paris Bulletin N° 323 February 2012 • IRAQI KURDISTAN: A FLOOD OF SYRIAN KURDISH DESERTERS. • TURKEY: THE SECRET SERVICES AT THE HEART OF A CLASH BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM. • IRAN: AN ELECTION CAMPAIGN THAT IS A DISASTER FOR FREEDOM. • LEBANON: THE KURDS STILL FEEL THEY ARE “SECOND CLASS CITIZENS”. • PARIS: AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SYRIA. • CULTURE: DEATH OF DENGBÊJ ELI TICO. IRAQI KURDISTAN: A FLOOD OF SYRIAN KURDISH DESERTERS ver since 2003, Iraqi Irbil with his brother and three Berxwedan indicated that there Kurdistan has been other Syrians, one of whom had were splits within the Army, acting as a country of also deserted. Enrolled into the which is a reflection of all the E asylum for many 15th Brigade, stationed in elements that divide Syria. The refugees from Iraq, Southern Syria, in Deraa soldiers who were from Homs mainly Christians and Mandean Province (which was the first and Deraa refused to kill the but also Kurds, Moslems and town to demonstrate and which demonstrators, as did the Sunni Yezidis who have fled Mosul. At has also experienced blood Arabs and the Kurds, whereas the moment, Iraqi Kurdistan is baths), he spoke about the living the Alawiites and those loyal to expecting waves of refugees conditions for those serving the regime did as they were told. coming from Syria. More and under the Syrian flag: Berxwedan Selîm also said that more Syrian Kurdish soldiers are “We were under considerable pres - every soldier who refused to kill deserting and, consequently, sure, from the officers who com - was either arrested of executed fleeing to Iraqi Kurdistan “ to manded us, to kill the demonstra - by the Army. avoid having to kill or be killed ”. tors. My officer kept telling us that One of them, who deserted from the demonstrators had to be killed. “In my unit two soldiers were the Special Forces, was inter - He said they were armed terrorists ”. killed by Bashar loyalists. These viewed this week by the Kurdish soldiers were friends of mine, Globe , using the pseudonym of The orders were to arrest and Hozan from Qamislo and Saleh Berxwedan Selim. The young disperse the demonstrators by from Hama. They were killed man is, for the moment, living in firing on them. However because they refused our com - • 2 • Information and liaison bulletin n° 323 • February 2012 mander’s order to kill the “I did not want to suffer the same tions four times. They dressed us in demonstrators”. Their execution fate as my brothers. I did not want civvies and gave us pictures of was carried out at night and in to be sent home in a coffin which is Bashar al-Assad and slogans to secret. According to Berxwedan why I fled”. wave ”. According to him, many some Baathist loyalists shot each Syrian soldiers feel trapped in of them in the nape of the neck Jihad Hassan took part in many the army: “ All the soldiers want to and then accused “terrorists” of clashes between the Syrian desert ”. the killing. forces and the crowd. He thinks that the al-Assad regime is The extent of desertion is con - “Next morning, the officers said weakening daily. firmed by Ahmed Suleiman, 20 to us: “Look at these men. They “It is easy to die in Syria. Syria is years of age, who served in refused to kill the terrorists and getting worse every day. The regime Damascus for a year: “ The now the terrorists have killed is losing control of the country. The regime’s forces are losing control of them”. But we knew that they Syrian people are at the crossroads. the area round Damascus. Much of had been killed by the officers”. They must choose between support - the area has been liberated by the ing the al-Assad regime or opposing Free Syrian Army. The number of After six months service, it. You have to kill or be killed ”. soldiers deserting is increasing Berxwedan Selîm was given 72 daily . hours leave. He then returned Hussein Mahmud, also age 19, home, to Amude and, from there who comes from Derik, had Ahmad Sulaiman also explains decided to flee, receiving help in served for 6 months in Deraa, that the Kurdish soldiers are sys - illegally crossing the border both one of the first of the towns to tematically sent to the front line in Syria and from the other side, revolt last year. In the end he of the fighting: “ They cannot in Iraqi Kurdistan to reach Irbil. fled from there and ended up in retreat if they meet a strong resis - the Dumiz camp at Duhok. It tance because there is a special unit According to him, Assad’s army was only the daily scenes of of the Army charged with killing is still strong but he thinks that it murder and torture in which the those who retreat ”. will collapse in about 6 months soldiers indulged in the camp because of the great number of that made him realise the extent Anwar Haji Othman, Assistant deserters and because the sol - of the events: “ In Deraa, I was Minister for the Peshmergas stat - diers have had enough. completely isolated and could not ed “ We welcome them for humani - contact my family. We were not tarian reasons, we protect them as “We did not have enough food, allowed to telephone, read the refugees. We will not hand them nor enough time to sleep, but papers, listen to the radio or watch over to the Syrian government plenty of arms of Russian television. However, every day the because they are Kurds and it is our brands. The soldiers understand security forces brought in innocent right to protect them ”. that the situation is slipping out people and tortured them, killed of al-Assad’s control”. He them and concealed their bodies ”. According to Anwar Haji stressed that his brigade was Posted to a checkpoint, he fre - Othman, the first official figures officered by mercenaries, quently came under attack from show 15 families, and 130 civil - Alawiites and Iranians. the free Syrian Army (the ian men divided between two rebels). “ We were told that they camps in Duhok, where there About a hundred deserters are were terrorists and that we should are already 1800 Kurds from living in Duhok. Questioned by not hesitate to kill them ”, he said. Syria who had fled from vio - the daily Rudaw , they reported lence in 2004. But other refugees similar experiences. Jihad Hussein Mahmoud explains that will be following suite, accord - Hassan, aged 19, had been in the the pro-Assad demonstrations ing to the Kurdish government’s Syrian Army for 9 months and that are filmed by the official estimates. Thus Shaker Yassin, ended by deserting and crossing media are put on and organised who runs the Immigration Office the border. One of his brothers by the authorities themselves of the Ministry of the Interior, was killed by the Syrian armed and that the troops were ordered told AFP that they had set up a services and another seriously to take part: “ We were brought to new camp at Duhok to welcome wounded: take part in pro-Assad demonstra - about 1000 families. n° 323 • February 2012 Information and liaison bulletin • 3• TURKEY: THE SECRET SERVICES AT THE HEART OF A CLASH BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM he enquiry aimed at defended the agents on the NTV leader of the CHP, the main the Union of Kurdish channel: “The MIT assumes its opposition party, filed an appeal Communities (KCK) responsibilities in the context of with the Constitutional Court, in T in Turkey, accused of the law”. the name of his party, to have it being a political show annulled. case for the PKK, suffered an The Prosecutor’s stubbornness unexpected turn when, on 8 in wanting to these interroga - Henceforth MIT agents, will be February, the Public Prosecutor tions at any price resulted in his free of any judicial proceedings in charge of the case, Sadettin being taken off all enquiry into for any activity linked to their Sankaya, asked to interrogate the KCK from the very next day, duties and no Prosecutor will be four former agents of the MIT 11 February, “ for having exceeded able to summon the without the (the Turkish Intelligence Service) his powers ” as the deputy Public Prime Minister’s authorisation. and its current Director Hakan Prosecutor for Istanbul, Fikret Fidan, regarding contacts with Secen, announced. He has been The affair was widely comment - the PKK that had taken place in replaced by two magistrates. ed on and criticised both by the Oslo in 2010, as Prime Minister press and by political analysts. Recep Tayyip Erdogan had This did not prevent the police, Some saw it as a sign of a more admitted last October.