a kurd set fire to himself in protest

[dyaoko]

A KURDISH protestor set himself on fire yesterday morning outside the European Commission office in Nicosia in protest of the maltreatment and bad prison conditions of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is being held in Turkey.

The 38-year-old Kurd was taking part in the protest when he doused himself with gasoline and then lit himself on fire. One witness told the Cyprus Mail that the man then “shouted something about Ocalan and Kurdistan and held his two fingers up in a Victory sign”.

Several other Kurdish protestors as well as the police immediately rushed at him and succeeded in extinguishing the fire.

The man was then taken to the Nicosia General Hospital, where he was treated for his burns. According to statements by doctors, second-degree burns, which are primarily on his back and hands, cover 18 per cent of his body.

The man was then transferred to the Makarios Hospital for treatment and surgery. While being wheeled into the ambulance, the man weakly raised a bandaged arm and made another V sign.

The Kurdish protestors, carrying placards with pictures of Ocalan, came from all parts of Cyprus. Ocalan is the leader of the Kurdish guerrilla group PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), which in 1984 launched an armed struggle for an autonomous Kurdish state in the south east of the country.

Turkish troops captured Ocalan in 1999, initially sentencing him to death but then commuting his sentence in 2002 to life in prison.

The Kurdish protestors submitted a petition asking for a just trial for Ocalan and for him to have access to his lawyers, while also charging Turkey for human rights violations against the Kurds. In the petition they also asked for changes in Turkey’s correctional system.

Similar Kurdish demonstrations have been taking place in other Europeans capitals as well as in cities in Turkey.

In May of this year the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Turkish authorities breached international treaties by denying Ocalan the right to a fair and independent trial and by preventing his lawyer from contacting him.

Turkey has also been repeatedly condemned for its treatment of Kurds by human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk will be tried in Turkish courts in December for “insulting and weakening Turkish identity” after saying that one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in Turkey.

Self-immolation is considered to be one of the most powerful acts of sacrifice and is often used in political protest as it draws tremendous media attention. The photograph of the burning monk Thich Quang Duc seated in a Saigon street in lotus position with flames whirling off him is among the most famous images from the Vietnam War.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.ph ... 6&cat_id=1

[tomjez]

I'm sure Apo will be happy to hear that.

[Vladimir]

Sad..

They should have protested for Kurdish on primary and secondary schools. Instead of the demonstrations for Apo.

What a waste.

[dyaoko]

this shows apo is in kurdish hearts and nobody can take him out of their hearts...

I guess cirictizing everythign about apo is a waste of time, beccause these nothern kurds will never change their minds they love apo so much , they see their own existance in Apo .

may be because nobody [nither countris nor politicans nor other kurdish leaders]in this wolrd have cared about them...

america calls them terrorist and sells weapon to turkey to kill them
israel do the same
EU do the same
other kurdish leaders like talibiani and barzani are more busy with their own kurds..and dont give a shit for them..
Iran Syria and ...as always do the same.
no fucking media in the wolrd covers theri pain ..just for eamxple which mother fucker media covered this kurd's firing himself...if he was palestinian and had bombed himself and killed more ppl now he was shown in the world as a symbol of palestinan pain and would show israel as a big monster .


well now just imgaine yourself a northern kurd ...who is your friend in this world ? a southern kurd can feel that america is his friend.
but what about a northern kurd ? he just sees something called APO as his own symbol . they have to do have somebody as their symbol , if not APO then who ?

there is no better altenative than apo for northern kurds.

I guess we better respect their symbol and try not to offend to him at least until a better person that APO be found for northern kurds that we can support him/her.

[tomjez]

You know one reason why I'm really fed up with Apo and PKK is that some northern kurd are not only unable but also REFUSE to think by themselves. This is the ground of every dictatorship, every totalitarism: "we don't need to think, apo thinks for us". Do you really think it will change something that this poor guy burnt himself? It won't free big moustache, it won't change anything for kurds, and if turkish military hear about that, they will laugh.

I found scary that someone can kill himself to protest agains "detention condition". Apo has one island for him, he can do promenade, have books, can write some (pity!). Think of other random kurdish prisoners in Turkey in F-Type prisons. I'm more worried about them that about Apo in his luxe prison in Imrali. This is bullshit. I read some stuff about Apo's detention condition "being the worst that any human being ever experienced" (PKK dixit). How can one be so disrespectful!!!!!!!! Some Kurds after the military coup lighted a match for newroz and then hang themselves in jail, Diyarbakir prison is known for his huge record on torture, and poor Apo, treated like a head of state, say he is the poorest prisoner ever, and some Kurds BELIEVE THAT! and want to die because they are so sad for him???

Apo said in one book that kurds were a low people, unworthy of a man like him. I totally agree, Kurds deserve so much better! They are a great people and Apo is a shame, a coward, a megalomaniac who only cares about himself, his security and his own little comfort.

if he was palestinian and had bombed himself and killed more ppl now he was shown in the world as a symbol of palestinan pain and would show israel as a big monste

totally agree with that!!!!!!!

[Diri]

I think it is sad that the PKK does these propaganda campaigns... In reality - maybe only 50% of Northern Kurdistan supports Apo... But they make it seem like eveyrbody supports him... And that is not how it is...

Northern Kurds are less educated than their counterparts in South and East Kurdistan... That is one of the reasons that they keep supporting Apo - they don't know of any other way to support KURDS and KURDISTAN... But if they are shown new ways - I am sure they will turn their backs on the TRAITOR APO... Leyla Zana - has established a political party - let's hope that she can get their attention and draw them away from Apo...

[tomjez]

Agree with diri, except on Leyla Zana.... She is uneducated as well! She was close to Apo and even if she seems to want to take distance with PKK, it can be hard for her. As you said not all kurds in North support PKK, but it's hard to speak freely and harder to cleary become an opponent. Sentence is death...

[Diri]

Agree with diri, except on Leyla Zana.... She is uneducated as well! She was close to Apo and even if she seems to want to take distance with PKK, it can be hard for her. As you said not all kurds in North support PKK, but it's hard to speak freely and harder to cleary become an opponent. Sentence is death...

Well... I said LET'S HOPE... I don't relay trust Leyla Zana... I just HOPE she will get some sense into her head and act on KURDAYETÎ instead of Apokî thinking...

I doubt it though... Anyway - nothing in the way of hoping...

[tomjez]

OK let's hope someone give her a new brain!

[dyaoko]

Northern Kurds are less educated than their counterparts in South and East Kurdistan... .

actulay Southern kurds were the least educated humans on the world , 14 years ago, they become more educated after eastern kurds immigrated to there as they were given a safe place by no fly zone.

and totaly agree with you, "currectly" norhtern kurds + western kurds are the least educated kurds.

but you are not going to blame APO for that are you ?
apo did his best to change this peopel , to change their culture and he has done some good effects.

the solution is , to not offend to APO , until we can educate peopel of the north of the kurdisan , we and should try to get most of APO we can.

he can be a good symbol for unity of kurds, why not ?

[Diri]

HE ISN'T EVEN KURDISH - HE SAID HIS MOTHER IS TURKISH AND HE ASKED TO BE FORGIVEN FOR MAKING WAR WITH TURKEY! HE SAID HE IS TURKISH!


IS THIS THE MAN YOU WANT TO REPRESENT KURDISH UNITY???

[Piling]

norhtern kurds + western kurds are the least educated kurds.

Not right concerning Kurds in Syria. They are often high-school graduated. Syrian educationnal system oblige youth to study until 16 or 18 I think.

[Diri]

norhtern kurds + western kurds are the least educated kurds.

Not right concerning Kurds in Syria. They are often high-school graduated. Syrian educationnal system oblige youth to study until 16 or 18 I think.

IF THEY HAVE CITIZENSHIP!

[tomjez]

Apo does not want kurds to be educated. No educated kurd could be believe the crap he wrote. No "intellectual" is in adoration in front of Apo. "Intellectual" was a bad ord inside PKK.

The only education kurds could have inside PKK was entirely based on Apo's writing. personnaly if I'm forced to read 10 pages of "From Sumerian clerical state to democratic civilization" I have headache. If you make me read 100 pages, I would burn myself too.

[tomjez]

and totaly agree with you, "currectly" norhtern kurds + western kurds are the least educated kurds.

but you are not going to blame APO for that are you ?

Diri I don't know, me yes!

PKK destroyed the education system in Kurdistan, because it was serving the state. It destroyed it to free kurds from kemalist propaganda (good) just to replace it by Apoist propaganda.

So know you have children in kurdistan who never went to school, and who can't read and write. Is it a way to free people? The turkish teachers who where sent to kurdistan had no choice, they did not decide of that....

For exemple french education is very political, especially the way they teach history. But if you're educated enough you quickly reject what you learn in your childhood....

But it is also turkish state, because it did not make enough effort to bring education to kurdistan.