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By Rebwar Rashed:
Honorable gentlemen, Mr. President Miloš Zeman, Mr. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Mr. President of Interpol Meng Hongwei and Mr. Secretary General Jürgen Stock of Interpol
Mr. Saleh Moslem was detained in Prague 24th February as answer to a “red notice” issued by the Turkish state to the Interpol. He was released on 27th February at noontime.
Mr. Saleh Moslem was elected to the PYD,Democratic Union Party, and acted as a cochairman until last year 2017. The PYD is the political party in the Kurdistan region part of Syria which has struggled for a democratic and peaceful Syria.
The PYD has succeeded to build a governance coalition in the liberated area and at the same time made a Rojava partnership possible in the international coalition under the leadership of the USA. Thus the SDF, Syrian Democratic Forces, won victories against ISIS, Jabha AlNusra and other terrorist organizations such as Sultan Murad Brigades, operating in different areas of Syria.
The PYD has therefore excellent relations with the member countries of the coalition against terrorism in Syria. Mr. Saleh Moslem is one of the political figures who should get credit for his contribution against terrorism.
Turkey which has decided not to solve its own Kurdish issue with political and democratic means has done everything to attack Kurdish people in other parts of the Middle East. Turkey is aiming to conceal the Kurdish question in Turkey. On 21st March 2013 Mr. Ocalan, the Kurdish leader currently in Turkish Imrali prison due to an International conspiracy against him, took an initiative to solve the Kurdish issue in Turkey by peaceful and democratic means.
Despite Mr. Ocalan´s call for a peaceful settlement the president of Turkey, Erdogan, chose to use more army and fire power against Kurdish people.
Since August 2014 Turkey has been supporting terrorist groups in Syria. There is plenty of evidence which shows Turkish political and military relations with ISIS, Jabha AlNusra, Sultan Murad Brigades and other terrorist groups.
It´s not the first time Turkey is using international bodies against the Kurdish liberation movement and its leaders. Turkey has been using NATO´s sophisticated weapons against Kurdish people in the last 60 years. Turkey misuses also other international and semi-international bodies such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the G20.
Turkey is using all kind of political, diplomatic and economic pressure on political leaders and organizations in the world to fight Kurdish people, not just concerning Turkey, but elsewhere in Syria, Iraq and Iran too. Turkey is interfering in the Kurdish issue inside Iraq, Iran and Syria and pressing them to not solve the Kurdish issue. Since 2002 the AKP government has used in addition the religion of Islam as a tool against Kurdish liberation movement. Recently the Turkish president Erdogan has ordered mosques and Islamic religious centers all over Turkey to specifically describe Kurdish people as “infidels” and encourage Turkish people to take arms against Kurds in Syria. There is plenty of evidence that in the last three years the AKP has mobilized thousands of boys and men among the Syrian refugees in Turkey to take up arms against Kurdish people, both in Syria and inside Turkey, labeling them as “FSA”, the Free Syrian Army. These people get monthly payments and Turkish residence and work permits and promises for their families of easy access into EU countries.
Therefore, today´s case concerning Mr. Saleh Moslem is nothing more than a Turkish aim to wave a conspiracy against the Kurdish liberation movement, especially those who are politically active.
As the Turkish president Erdogan is getting more religious and believing more in the Muslim Brotherhood´s doctrine, he acts with more hostility against the Kurdish liberation movement because the Kurdish movement is progressive and struggles for social justice and the emancipation of women.
Kurdish people naturally pay respect to Interpol which is an international organization and works for a better world with less crime. At the same time, Kurdish people ask Interpol to have a proper look at the requests put forward by Turkey and Iran.
The Kurdish people are one of the most ancient peoples in the region and have been subjected to colonization and been divided against their own will. We are struggling for democracy and liberty. We have always asked for a political solution of the Kurdish question.
Mr. Saleh Moslem´s detention had nothing to do with any of the principles which Interpol prioritizes. He is rather a person who has been struggling among others for the same principles and strategic goals which Interpol also works for.
We Kurds are a nation of at least 50 million people. We are the victim of oppression and suppression by uncivilized colonial countries, among them Turkey. We are the victim of state-terrorism and Islamic radical terrorism. We are the victim of state violence, military aggression, racism and discrimination, among them by the Turks.
We thank you all in the Czech Republic, Interpol leadership members of the Executive Committee, for not letting Turkey take over such an important case. Turkey has a history of committing atrocities against all indigenous peoples of the region.
Today, Turkey has imprisoned thousands of Kurdish political activists. There are jailed children under 12 years old, there are minors, women and men and they are living under very harsh conditions. There is evidence that many Kurdish political prisoners are put in animal cages and Kurdish prisoners face torture daily. Handing over Mr. Saleh Moslem would have not served a political and a peaceful solution of the Kurdish issue. It would rather have encouraged Turkey to be more aggressive, reactionary and violent.
Mr. Saleh Moslem is, like the rest of his Kurdish people, a victim of oppression, dictatorship and state violence. He has been arrested and jailed by the Syrian regime for his democratic political activities. For many years in Europe he has only delivered speeches for a political solution of the Kurdish question and asking for the sister- and brotherhood of peoples, gender equality, social justice and liberty.
We believe that the world needs peace, stability and co-existence based on mutual interest and mutual friendship more than at any other time in history. Underlining the importance of mitigating the suffering of vulnerable people, especially the stateless peoples, is crucial.
We hope and expect that you will guide Turkey back to the negotiations table with the PKK so that it will hopefully start to respect the national-, democratic and human rights of Kurdish people. We believe that the right approach is to solve the Kurdish issue by peaceful means and not through persecutions and exterminations of our people.
Interpol will hopefully inform Turkey of its righteous duties and ask Turkey not to misuse Interpol and stop fabricating evidence for its own political gains.
Rebwar Rashed is Co-Chair of the Kurdistan National Congress – KNK
In today’s edition of Lidové noviny, the author of the article attempted to reconstruct events surrounding the arrest of Salih Muslim. This was done in conjunction with the Middle East Regional Conference on Security and Cooperation, sponsored by the Czech Government in Prague and organised by the American University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) every year since 2015. Conference only for selected and despite the participation of several hundred guests without any publicity.
On Saturday night, a Muslim photo with a threat and information on the place of residence suddenly appeared on Turkish websites. The Turkish secret services apparently had their agents at the conference. The hotel security staff offered him protection in cooperation with the police, but he refused. The Turkish side then filed a request for extradition at night on the basis of a bilateral extradition treaty, but not on the basis of the Interpol warrant, as was often said. After the night’s approval of the prosecutor, he was arrested. The author asks why the police did not let to know the intelligence services. The reason, however, could be just the confidentiality of the conference. How many people in my country, policemen including, last week knew who Salih Muslim were, if they were not interested in what was really happening in Syria? However, after two days, Salih Moslem was at liberty, and the subsequent court hearing, if it does not happen at all, will probably not release him. Being the chairman of a political party, an associate member of the Socialist International, is not a crime in the Czech Republic.
Did this Turkish event make any sense? Maybe yes, if the goal was not Salih Muslim, but the existence of the conference itself. If Turkey suspected that the Syrian Kurds used it as a cover for diplomatic engagement, the aim could be to make it visible, to make the Czech Republic incredible for similar negotiations in the future.
We have such a proveb: Everything bad is good for something. Maybe it is time to make things visible.