Rudaw: In October 2015 a criminal investigation was started against you for supporting PKK. Can you tell us about the case?
According to the prosecutor, in 2010 I participated in an interview with the Kurdish channel Roj TV over the phone. Now I can’t remember that I did that. I am often called by many journalists, British, German and French media. I speak to them all, regardless of their ethnicity or political orientation. But the prosecutor thinks that I should know that by participating on Roj TV I thus supported the PKK. It is ridiculous.
Recently you received the Danish PL Foundation Freedom Prize. What was your reaction?
I was honored for two reasons: First, the prize was given to me by Poul Søgaard, president of the Supreme Court. Second, the foundation was founded by Poul Lauritzen, who during World War II was an active member of the Danish resistance against the German occupation. This symbolizes the relationship between justice and conscience. But there is a paradox: I will be persecuted in my own country with a claim that I gave an interview to Roj TV. Then I came to a country like Denmark - where Roj TV was closed down – to receive a Freedom Prize. It is a paradox.
What do you think about the Roj-TV case?
Well, actually I signed a petition against the closure of Roj TV. The Kurdish problem will not be solved by closing television stations, newspapers etc.. If banning things could solve the problem, the Kurdish problem would be solved long ago.
Others would say that Roj TV was pro-PKK in its coverage and that the PKK is on the EU terrorist list, so an EU-country like Denmark can’t allow Roj-TV?
How can the channel then continue to broadcast in the heart of the EU in Brussels, just under a different name? This case is about Turkey putting pressure on Denmark to get Roj-TV closed.
In 2011, you were taken into custody in the KCK case for alleged connection with the PKK. Can you tell us more about the case?
I was jailed because I had attended a reception for the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), one of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (HDP) forerunners. According to the prosecutor, I should have known that "BDP is a terrorist organization." The purpose of the KCK case was to send a signal to the intellectuals: "You should not deal with the Kurdish issue." So it was a political, not a legal case. Like the case against the late Tahir Elci.
But it is not widely known that the BDP had links to the PKK?
How could the party then be legal and have representatives in the parliament?
You knew Tahir Elci – the Kurdish lawyer who was killed in Diyarbakir in November 2015. How did his death affect you personally?
Those who are fighting for peace are killed; Like the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, assassinated in 2007, Tahir, and so on. It can’t be coincidence. They say that Tahir was killed by accident. However, the information received indicates that he was killed by police. I hope for an independent inquiry.
There was a peace process between the Turkish government and PKK from 2013 to 2015, that is now dead. How can this process be resumed?
The state must recognize the Kurds’ equality and create a new social agreement based on the UN Convention on Human Rights, including the right of peoples to self-determination and the right to determine their own national destiny. It gives people the right to live together or to secede.
In recent years, surveys have indicated that only a minority - 15-20 percent of Kurds in Turkey - support Kurdish secession from Turkey. The majority of Kurds want more cultural and linguistic rights within Turkey.
If most Kurds want coexistence and more rights, then what is the problem? Why can’t the state just give them their right? If the state doesn’t give them these rights, more will want to secede.
What changes do you see in the current Justice and Development Party (AKP) government?
When AKP came to power in 2002 the situation for reporters improved. But despite the attempt at democratization in the beginning of its reign, the AKP ended up being authoritarian.
Why, do you think?
There were several lawsuits against journalists. One of my articles was titled "What has it to do with you?" I was referring to an event in 2003, where a commander of the armed forces said Turkey would not tolerate a Kurdish secession in Iraqi Kurdistan. My point was that it (Iraqi Kurdistan) was another country. Their citizens themselves must decide what should happen in their country. The article created problems for me. Also I got problems because I call the 1915 massacres against Armenians a “genocide.”
But AKP launched "the Kurdish Initiative" and opened a 24-hour Kurdish television?
No one is expecting alms from Turkey. Rights are not something you give to people. Nobody granted the Kurds rights. The Kurds took the rights themselves. Only after 4,000 villages were burned, 50,000 people were killed and millions were displaced, the Kurds got more rights.
Since you mention the state's fault, what about the other party - the PKK?
I am dealing with the state's faults. It is not my job to deal with the opposition. The Kurds have the right to resist. The stronger party in the conflict is the state.
What do you think about Turkey’s position regarding Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria?
First, Turkey should solve the problem of democracy in its own country, before interfering in Syria. It’s not our business to define the future of Syria. Just as Syria can’t define Turkey's future, we can’t define theirs. If we intervene, the price for Turkey will be high, such as bombings and massacres.
You now live in exile in Sweden. Do you have any plans to go back to Turkey?
If I want, I can go back to Turkey, but right now it's too risky because of the criminal investigation.
What about your future?
I have all my life fought for Turkey to become a country where one can live. I will continue the fight, I would be very frustrated if I did not do anything.
