View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto The Invisible War in North Kurdistan Kristiina Koivunen 2 The right to healthy living is an essential and non-transferrable basic human right which is guaranteed by our constitution. The utilisation of our health care services by every citizen when he/she needs them, the elimination of regional inequalities, and recognising and raising the health level of our people are some of our basic aims. Through the establishment and management of health information as required, health care services can be directed and monitored in line with our aims. (Dr. H. Ibrahim Öksöy, Minister of Health, 1995) The reason for diseases is poverty, but not only poverty; it is simply the policy of the Turkish state to destroy a nation. Not only to go and shoot and kill them - there are also other methods.(a Kurdish woman) 3 Kristiina Koivunen [email protected] ISBN: 952-10-0644-7 (Internet, PDF) 952-91-4994-8 (Publication) 4 The Invisible War in North Kurdistan List of Abbreviations / List of Tables Acknowledgement 1. Introduction: the scarcity of information about the health of the Kurds 12 Civil war in North Kurdistan(12) / Ethnocide and low-intensity warfare(13) Ethics of studying civilians under armed conflicts(15) 2. Theoretical approach 19 2.1. Ethnic identity People, nation and nationalism(21) / Ethnic revival(24) 2.2. Genocide and ethnocide 27 Ethnocide(32) / Linguistic human rights and linguicide(36) 2.3. Low-intensity warfare 40 3. Ethics of research about war 47 3.1. Ethics of research about war Choosing a side(47) / The researcher's social responsibility(49) 3.2. Fieldwork on violence 52 Existential shock(53) / Language of conflict studies(54) / Ability to help(57) / Moral responsibility(59) / Researcher’s emotions in the research process(60) / Security of informants(62) 4. Methods of collecting information 67 4.1. Methods and research material Interviews and observation(68) / Contacts with the Kurds(70) / Contacts with the Turks(71) / Travel reports(72) / Literature, statistics, and the Internet(73) 4.2. Criticism of sources 75 5. The history of the Kurds in Turkey 79 5.1. Basic information about Kurdistan 5.2. Some reflections on the history of the Kurds in Turkey 83 Pan-Turanic dreams(85) / "One nation, one state, one language, one culture"(87) / Kurdish uprisings(94) / The Sheikh Said revolt of 1925(95) / Ararat 1930(96) / Dêrsim 1936-1938(97) / US co-operation with the Turkish military(100) / History of deportation(103) / The military coup of 1980(106) / The Kurdistan Labour Party (PKK)(107) / Proposals for negotiations(110) 6. Kurdish ethnocide in Turkey 114 6.1. Denial of Kurdish identity Kurdish linguicide in Turkey(114) / Education as one method of Turkifying(117) / Kurds / Kurdification, the Kurdish reactive ethnicity(120) 6.2. The use of the GAP project in the destruction of Kurdish identity 127 5 The destruction of Kurdish history(130) 6.3. Statistics and research: denial of the existence of the Kurds 133 6.3.1. Research Research about the Kurds(133) / Problems in doing health surveys(139) 6.3.2. Statistics 144 Population statistics(144) / Health statistics(145) 7. The militarisation of the Kurdish provinces 147 7.1.The Turkish security and defence systems State of Emergency rule(147) / The army and the police(149) 7.2. Paramilitary groups 153 Village guards(155) 7.3. Pacification methods used against the civilian population 159 Destruction of Kurdish villages(159) / Food embargoes(162) / Deportation of Kurds to shanty towns in western Turkey(164) 8. Health care in North Kurdistan 171 8.1. Kurdish health care practices 8.2. Health care in southeast Turkey 174 Language problems(175) / Lack of economic resources and labour force(177) 8.3. Working conditions under the State of Emergency Law 182 8.4. Collapse of preventive health care 186 8.5. Lack of environmental health care 190 9. Morbidity in the 1990s in North Kurdistan 192 9.1. Health care in emergency situations Morbidity in North Kurdistan(193) 9.2. Diarrhoeal diseases 195 Malnutrition(196) / Typhoid(198) / Cholera(199) / Parasitic diseases(200) 9.3. Pneumonia 202 9.4. Malaria 203 9.5. Tuberculosis 208 9.6. Polio 209 9.7. Measles 211 9.8. Other diseases and a general view of morbidity in the 1990s 212 10. Infant and child mortality in North Kurdistan 216 11. Health problems as a onsequence of war, a method of low- intensity warfare, and a reflection of ethnocide 220 Lack of humanitarian aid as a method of low-intensity warfare(220) / Low-intensity warfare in the shadow of ethnocide(224) 12. Summary and discussion 227 Kurdish ethnocide in Turkey(229) / Ethnocide and low-intensity warfare in Turkey(232) / Lack of research as one method of ethnocide(233) / Lack of research about the Kurds in Turkey(236) / Need for research about North Kurdistan (239) / The ethics of studying wars(242) 6 References 235 7 List of Abbreviations AKIN American Kurdish Information Network ANAP Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi) ARGK National Liberation Army of Kurdistan (Artesa Rizgariya Gelê Kurdistan) CATOM Multipurpose Community Centre (Çok Amaçli Toplum Merkezleri) CHP Republic People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi). Founded by Atatürk DEP The Democracy Party (Demokrasi Partisi) 7.5.1993 - 16.6.1994 DSP The Democratic Left Party (Demokratik Sol Parti) DYP True Path Party (Dogru Yol Partisi) ERNK National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (Eniya Rizgariya Netewa Kurdistan) GAP Grand Anatolia Project (Güneydogu Anadolu Projesi) HADEP People's Democratic Party (Halkin Demokrasi Partisi) HEP People's Labour Party (Halkin Emek Partisi) 7.6.1990 - 14.7.1993 HRFT Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV, Türkiye Insan Haklari Vakfi) IHD Human Rights Association (Insan Haklari Dernegi) IMK. e.V. International Association for the Human Rights of the Kurds KHRP Kurdish Human Rights Project LIC Low-intensity conflict MHP Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi) MIT National Security Organisation (Milli Istihbarat Teskilati) MSF Médecin Sans Frontières MSP Refah Islamic Welfare Party PHR Physicians for Human Rights PKK Kurdistan Labour Party (Partiya Karkarên Kurdistan) SHP Social Democrat People's Party (Sosyal Demokrat Halkci Partisi) SES Trade Union of Health Care (Saglik Sendikasi) TDHS Turkish Demographic and Health Survey 1993 TTB Turkish Medical Association (Türk Tabipler Birligi) UNHCR United Nations High Commission for Refugees 8 WHO World Health Organisation 9 List of Tables Table 1: Population in Hakkari and Van provinces (p.76) Table 2: Kurdish names in Turkish (p.81) Table 3: Population in Kurdish provinces (p.145) Table 4: Defence and health shares of the General Budget of the State of Turkey (p.152) Table 5: The amount of annually evacuated villages (p.165) Table 6: Estimated influx of displaced Kurds (p.165) Table 7: Vaccination in the State of Emergency Region, 1991, (%) (p.187) Table 8: Immunisation coverage in Amed 1990-1996, p. 159 (p.188) Table 9: Immunisation coverage (%) in PDT, measles and BCG, 1996 (p.189) Table 10: Registered typhoid cases in Amed (p.199) Table 11: Registered cases of amoebiasis in Amed and in Turkey in 1990- 1996 (p.201) Table 12: Infant and child mortality rate (per 1,000) in 1997 (p.219) 10 Acknowledgement This research has been a lonely journey into a world of violence and horror. It has been very difficult to get advice both in the scientific part of the research and in how to emotionally face the enormous suffering of people. Most of the support I have got came from the Kurds. Whether slumdwellers in Amed or intellectuals and top politicians in Europe, they have encouraged me and been thankful to me for my interest in their people in undertaking this research. Although many Kurds have confided in me, their thankfulness has surprised, even irritated me. In these modern times it should be self-evident, not a special gesture to be thankful for, that in Europe the situation of people living under armed conflict is surveyed. Especially when it is not a question of a minor group, when the victims number in many millions. For critically reading and commenting on this research I want to thank Antti Karisto, Anna Maria Viljanen, Omar Sheikhmous, Haluk Gerger and Shahrzad Mojab. Especially I thank previewers of this study, Pertti Multanen and Raija-Leena Punamäki. Also I want to thank Jyrki Käkönen and Östen Wahlbeck whose comments on my licensiate dissertation helped me to understand the theories connected to genocide and ethnocide. My lisenciate dissertation "Health care in the shadow of cultural genocide in Turkish part of Kurdistan" was a draft of this research, here the empirical part is quite the same, but I go further in the theoretical part and in explaining the situation. Many discussions with my sister Tarja Tiainen have helped me to formulate the research questions in fresh ways. Kurds have helped me to understand their situation by explaining both large and small issues to me, and by researching information and creating contacts. As I can not speak Kurdish, and know only elementary Turkish, they have translated both interviews and written material for me. For the sake of their security I can not publicly thank people who have helped me in Turkey. Many of my Kurdish informants living in Europe prefer to stay anonymous as well. Some people I will mention: Necla Açik, Dicle Anter, M. Emin Bozarslan, Hanefi Celepli, Celadet Celiker, Zerdest Haco, Memed Üsel, Fatma Yasa and Rahsan Yorozlu. The Free Women Movement of Kurdistan (Yekîtiya Azadiya Jinên Kurdîstan, YAJK) I thank for the practical help its members have given to me. 11 Special thanks I owe to Brian Krueger and Laimdota Mazzarins who helped me with the English language.