Rally in Diyarbakir: Call for "Dignified Life"

On Sunday (25 November), the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP)'s province branch in Diyarbakir organised a rally under the slogan: "Say 'Enough' for a Dignified Life". According to the Firat News Agency, the meeting was organised to say "enough" to the lynching attempts against Kurds and operations against the PKK.

According to the "Hürriyet" news website there were 30,000 people at the rally, while the "Günlük Evrensel" news website spoke of 100,000. 

DTP Diyarbakir province chair Hilmi Aydogdu said that the rally had been organised in order to express the demands of the Kurdish people.

Ayna: No changes in Turkey 

Emine Ayna, DTP co-chair and MP for Mardin, spoke at the rally. Referring to the invitation by mainstream politicians to "do politics in the city", she said: "Is it not you who ignore those who do politics in the city? Is it not you who do not know the will of the people?"

According to the Firat News Agency, Ayna criticised the atttitude of the US and the EU towards Turkey saying: "What has changed in Turkey? What is there that happened in the 80s and 90s and does not happen now? Is the use of Kurdish free? No. Is education in one's mothertongue allowed? No. Are there cultural rights, identity rights? No. Is there torture? Yes. Are there unsolved murders? Yes, there are."

Ayna spoke of the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Ankara, saying: "The generals spoke of their regrets. They are given the EU the message that they are remorseful. You cannot fool us, nor the top nor the people. It is enough."

Ayna also criticised the fact that leaders spoke differently in Diyarbakir and differently in Ankara: "All problems in Turkey, not only the Kurdish issue, can be solved with democratic autonomy". She defined this concept as "a shrinking of the state and a growth in the importance of the people."

Selahattin Demirtas: Let people come down from mountains 

Selahattin Demirtas, DTP MP in Diyarbakir, said: "When the closure of the DTP and the lifting of parliamentarian immunity came onto the agenda, everyone became a disciple of democracy. So then open the paths that lead down from the mountain if you want people to come down. We are proud of the Iraqi regional government."

Nurettin Demirtas: Turkey at a juncture

DTP co-chair Nurettin Demirtas sent a message which read: "It is important for us how the government, international forces and the Northern Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) react to the message of this meeting."

He added that Turkey was at a juncture: "Turkey can loose its Kurds, or it can gain them on the basis of dignity and equality. This will become apparent in the messages and approaches towards the Diyarbakir people."

People at the rally held banners reading "No to Isolation [in prison cells]", "Say 'enough' for a Dignified Life", and "No to Operations, Yes to Democratic Solutions and Dialogue". People also carried flags of the DTP, the party which is threatened with closure.

Baydemir: No life without identity and culture 

Osman Baydemir, mayor of Greater Diyarbakir, spoke in Kurdish, saying that Diyarbakir was an ancient city, in which life had not stopped for 7,000 years. He called on Ankara to listen to Diyarbakir: "The wish of the Kurds is peace, brotherhood and democracy."

He said that no people anywhere in the world could live without identity, without culture: "The Kurdish people have never denied anyone their language or their identity. We must all be like that."

 According to the Ntvmsnbc news website, there was tension between protesters and police. The police used tear gas and some people were arrested.(NZ/AG)