“We condemn the despicable policies enacted against the Kurdish people”
“The liberation of Ocalan is our liberation as well”
“Long live the friendship of the Armenian and Kurdish peoples!”
“Let us live and create with Leader Apo at our side”

These were the slogans appearing on the banners carried by several hundred Kurds from various parts of Armenia who descended on Yerevan’s Stepan Shahumyan Square on November 15th and marched towards the offices of the United Nations. The protest march was organized by the “Free Union of Kurdish Women”, an organization that works for the release of Ocalan from imprisonment and promotes raising the Kurdish national consciousness. While many children participated in the march there were just a handful of Kurdish men in attendance.

Marchers handed out leaflets to passersby explaining the reasons for the protest.

“ It has been nine years that Abdullah Ocalan, our national Leader and personification of our political will, has been held in the Imrali Prison. The Turkish authorities have used all possible and potential means at their disposal to attack our people. They have kept our Leader in isolation in the harshest of conditions. These measures taken against our Leader are not even employed against those guilty of the most horrific criminal acts.

By preventing his lawyers and family members to see him the authorities have enacted a policy of double isolation. There can be no justification for the despicable actions of the Turkish regime. There is a policy of eradication and extermination being directed against the Kurdish people. The primary objective of our march is to condemn the cruel actions of the Turkish state and to protest against the worsening health of our Leader. This march also affords us the opportunity to denounce Turkish intentions to invade Iraq.”

Chanting slogans such as, “Beji Apo, Beji PKK” (Long Live Apo, Long Live the PKK/Kurdistan Workers Party), “Death to the Turks-Free Ocalan” and “Turkey is a Terrorist”, the marchers made their way to the offices of the United Nations where they hand delivered a letter addressed to the organization’s director in Armenia. In part, the letter reads as follows:

“Turkey is exercising a two-pronged political policy while simultaneously seeking inclusion in the European Union. On the one hand, through an all-out public relations campaign, Turkey attempts to prove to the world that it is a democratic country. On the other hand, however, it is enslaving peoples within its own borders, most notably the Kurds. By a series of armed incursions it seeks to prevent the establishment of an Iraqi Kurdistan with the objective of securing for itself the oil reserves located there. The Kurdistan Workers Party is a thorn in Turkey’s eye and led by Abdullah Ocalan the PKK expresses the political will of the Kurdish people. We Kurds, who have been exiled from out native homeland and found safe-haven in Armenia, are victims of Turkish state policy and we will not permit Turkey, who has subjugated our country, to exterminate our fellow countrymen or to solve the Kurdish Question in the Middle East through a policy of genocide. Can it be that the United Nations finds this aggressive stance of Turkey to be of no concern?”

A short time after the marchers gathered in front of the U.N. offices, two employees came outside. As if reading from a script taken from encounters with previous marches, the two workers attentively listened to what the protestors had to say and invited a delegation of three women inside. According to one of the delegates, Tamara Hasanova, a member of the Women’s Union, they were warmly received and given assurances that their letter would be properly delivered. Later on the U.N. representatives asked the delegates how they felt as Kurds residing in Armenia.

Both Tamara Hasanova and a majority of the marchers however remained skeptical that this reception would prove fruitful.

“On previous occasions we were warmly received as well. They’d accept our letters and would promise to respond. But they never followed up with an answer” states Tamara Hasanova.

“The health of our leader is in pretty bad shape, she protested. He’s being held in damp conditions. They give him no food. Not only is he prevented from seeing his lawyers or relatives, but also doctors aren’t even allowed to visit him. Now Turkey is attacking the PKK, which is only waging a struggle to liberate our nation. Turkey, however, describes the PKK as terrorists and the whole world is dancing to their song.”

Mrs. Tamara states that the active political stance and psychology manifested by Kurdish woman is influenced by the ideology of their leader Ocalan. The passage in their letter to the U.N. that states, “ We Kurdish women are ready to take up arms to resist Turkish terrorism in the defense of our homeland, Kurdistan “ is an expression that by no means should be interpreted as just a couple of words.