Newroz 1999

Newroz 1999 or 2611, for today is the Kurdish New Year. It began with the tale of a king, Zohak : From his elbows raised two snakes, and each morning, he had to nourish them with young men's brains. It began with a tale of resistance and courage, for the physicians who must apply this remedy sacrified only one man and replace the other by a sheep. The survivor fled to mountains, then it is the origin of the Kurdish breed. It began with a tale of rebellion and freedom, for a smith called Kawa, had seventeen sons, sixteen of them were killed. When his last child was captured, he revolted. Kawa replaced Zohak. For celebrating their liberation, the rebels danced around a fire. Nowadays, Kurds enflame fires for the spring feast, but tyranny is still there and people die again because they dance. Every year in Turkey, the Kurdish dance is replaced by the army, tanks, and helicopters… This year, after the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Öcalan, was captured, after his unsuccessful request for a sanctuary, soldiers are on nerves and it is almost impossible for European to go to Kurdistan for the Newroz. The Turkish President has recently declared : "We should have gazed all the Kurds !".

16th March - We are three to guide the french delegation, to collect evidence, to observe, to listen… This year there are French, Belgian, Dutch, German and Italian groups, despite of the risks for the latter : Italians are not welcom in Turkey, nowadays. At least, we constate that European people are not estimated in general, because Turks consider them as the Kurds' allies.

We arrive in Istanbul, with rucksacks and reading the Guide du Routard (the necessary guide for our play of moronic tourists, but we are going to talk about this guide!). The hotel is Arts Déco and a little wrecked, but seems to had been sumptuous in the past. The place, Taksim, is well situed so we can walk to some places where taxis could hesitate to go : The culturel center Mesopotamia ; an institution that provides help to the victims of torture, and they have a lot of work in this land, where a 12 years old woman was tortured with electrods because she had stolen bread ;  The International Human Rights League whose Chairman, Akin Birdal, was shot and missed to be killed last year. He has been in prison for many months, because he called openly a peaceful dialogue for the Kurdish problem !

17th March - We go to Mesopotamia Center : a tea rooom, a book-shop (Kurdish and Turkish books), CDs… Since 1991, the Kurdish language is not officially forbidden, although it 's banned from medias and schools. Mesopotamia is one of the places where people are the most harassed and arrested. They can sell you Kurdish music and books, but if you want to avoid troubles, you should not to not buy them. We talked to a young Kurd, a regular visitor to the Center : Today there is a bad atmosphere in Istanbul, the worst he has lived. "Now, if you are Kurd, you are considered as a terrorist. Everybody is frightened. Last night, policemen shot a teenager in the town." And we remember some images from Turkish TV : blood on pavement, washing by people, and a short commentary in Turkish Daily News : Police shot a "terrorist" just when he attacked. We learn that this year, it is impossible to go to Diyarbakir, the historical capitale of Kurdistan. If we try, police will expell us at the airport. If we take a bus, they could force us to get down on the road. So, the French delegation have to go to Van or Adana. Adana seems the best deal. Because of migrations, Adana is now a Kurdish town but out of Kurdistan, so it could be easier to reach it. In spite of the earthquake that recently devasted it, there will happen something here. Van seems more problematic. It is the last town before the iranian border and guerilla started from this region. For years, it has been absolutely forbidden for strangers. If we can not go to Diyarbakir, how could we reach Van ?

18th March - At the office of the Turkish Airline company, we can buy without any problem three single tickets for Van. On evening, we were waiting for the French delegation. Our guide in Istanbul received us at the place of our rendez-vous. He was issued from Dersim, which is since the birth of the Turkish republic, is considered to be the most persecuted region, where much people, because of fear stopped to speak Kurdish.

The french delegation arrives at least : They are five women. In a restaurant, we considered the situation : Saying "Kurdistan" is absolutely forbidden ; We must not take on ourselves the names or the number phones of our Kurdish contacts ; of our conversations, with innkeepers, waiters : they are often in touch with police. We were informed too about others Europeans : The Germans had been roughly expelled fromDiyarbakir, and women had been harassed by policemen. The Belgians, Dutches and Italians stay in Istanbul. Concerning the Spanish, we learned later that they were too expelled from Diyarbakir.

19th March - At 2 hours p.m., our plane is near to Van and flies over the Lake. In spite of the risks to be expelled at the airport, we pass, without even one control of our passports. We take a taxi. On the road between the airport and the old town, there are much new blocks, but none of them from Kurds ! In english and some gestures, we explain to the taxi that we seek for a hotel. The problem is that he thinks about a comfortable place and we want just a secure place, a Kurdish hotel with no policemen inside ! We seek for in the town and stop many times, but go back when we see white cars with the signal"Polis", waiting in front of the houses. We choice at the end a cheap place and shiver when we think of its comfort.

But here is a good hotel, in a poor district. One room for three, cold, with a wash basin from spring a iced water : that is the bathroom. But from the balcony it is possible to have a ful view of riots. From the window, we notice immediately the yellow flags with a blue butterfly of the HADEP (the single legal pro-Kurds party in Turkey, though its dangerous and instable existence).

Some scientists have warned that the fisher cats of the Lake could be disappeared because of the war. The world don't give a damn for Kurds, but take care of cats ! The Guide du Routard advises us, of course to avoid the Eastern lands because of their "instability" . But It assures us that it is just caused by the "Kurdish Irakian refugees". That is an information ! Some thousand families who have fled the Saddam Hussein's gazed attacks, living since ten years in camps next to the Turkish-Irakian border, would devastate the country !

We go to the HADEP office, where people welcome us with prudent but marked attentions. This party is the most frequently attacked, fired, grenaded in all the country. More than hundred of its members have been murdered, many are imprisonned In the office, a lot of men are complet-suited, and we enjoy it. As we ever noticed it, the " Butterflies" as we call them because of their emblem, are really fashionable and have innered and natural elegance, as they are borned MP's, though the PKK's (Kurdistan's Workers Party) are quite relaxed. Here is the Kurdish political reprentatives' place and not a camp's guerilleros. We are introduced in the main room, awfully cold in spite of a tiny stove. The responsible welcomes us. He is very smart, too. We suppose that is an real challenge to be well-dressed when we are nothing but a target for policemen and fascists and when we are more often in prison than in Parliament.

They call a interpreter, and in waiting for him, we identify our contact : a young smiled and discrete woman who seems to speak only Turkish (but she talks to us apart in a good kurdish). We have the feeling that they as musch mistrust us than themselves. The office is probably infested by police informers or people could be tortured or harassed and they are all on their nerves ! Today is the 19^th March and they have decided to celebrate the Newroz on 20^th March, one day before the New Year, in aim to spoil the intervention 's police and for family can met together without a lot of risks. The interpret comes and we carefully talk about generalities. What do we do in Paris ? "We are working with you, we are Kurds' friends". She smiles and relaxe. We take ourselves leave of them and ask to see her later, for a private interview : "Of course, after the 21th, if I still alive...".

In our hotel, we make preparations for tomorrow. The feast has to begin very soon at morning, so we suppose that people will start during the night and we want to go with them. About 23 h, there 's a knock at the door : "Polis !". We glance each other and open the door. Three men with civilian clothes come in the room. One of them speak French. They sit down on the beds, show their police cards and start : "Why are you in Van ?" We answer immediately : "Tourism !". They nod, then ask : "Did you go to the Tourism office ?", "Did you visit the Citadel ?", "Did you come by bus ?". They notice our cameras : with two hundred films, we seems as very enthusiastic tourists. "Did you take pictures ?"... "This afternoon, did you go to the HADEP office ?". Indeed, our deal of tourists is a little difficult to maintain. But we have no choice. "Of course, French medias talked about it, we wanted to inform us. We drank some tea, but as nobody could speak english, we leaved them !". "Can you speak Kurdish?" ..."What ?" Is there a Kurdish problem in Turkey ? They look at us and wonder if we laugh at them. Then we want almost to ask them an escort tomorrow for going to the Lake : if a lot of Kurds live here, the country could be not very secure ! At least they leave the romm but warn that they will come back : No problem, enjoy to see you again, and good night !

After they have gone, we close the door. Going directly to the HADEP was a mistake. We burn all the compromising. At midnight, we hear the first detonation. Bomb ? Grenade ? A truck stand front of the hotel, there is agitation, some cars start, some people go out of the street, a police car turn around in the quarter. At 2 o'clock, we decide to sleep. We call the French delegation and tell them to take tickets plane not for Van but for Adana. At 4.30 the sun rise and the fight stops suddenly.

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