The state in Turkey and the United states of America are sowing terror. We are fighting against this terror. In this conflict, our greatest weapon is intensive denunciation of torture, massacres and rape, in short, the crimes against humanity perpetrated by regimes which are enemies of the people. If we have been included on lists of terrorist organisations, it is because we have denounced state terrorism.

Nobody can claim that we have blindly slaughtered women and children. Yet we can show that the USA and Turkey commit these crimes on a daily basis. The proof of this is events in Afghanistan, Palestine and Turkey. And we are being targeted today because we have issued statements mentioning the atrocities experienced in these countries. Attacks on us are excused with demagogy about "terrorism". The USA declares shamelessly that "everyone must be subordinate to me and do as I wish." The EU decision shows traces of that. It may appear on the surface that they seriously debated our inclusion on that well-known list. But in reality they simply asked themselves the question: "Are we going to be totally at the beck and call of the USA, yes or no?"

Our inclusion in the EU list could be summed up by the following argument:

"Up to the present, you have always revealed massacres, torture and crimes against humanity committed in Turkey and in the world. However, this activity is henceforth illegal and terrorist. That is why we are going to punish you." It goes without saying that in doing so they are directly supporting torturers and murderers.

Moreover, we are not the only ones affected by this situation; European dissidents are also in the firing line. Even organisations which are making the most basic demands will be treated as terrorists on exactly the same grounds. The generations which lived through fascist barbarism have not completely disappeared, and they know well this process of criminalisation: Hitler, Mussolini, Franco as well as Haider, Le Pen, and the neo-Nazis who set fire to foreigners' houses, burning to death entire families at Solingen, did not just fall from the sky. The current surge in their fortunes owes a great deal to decisions which kill liberties, decisions of the kind reached in our case.

But while torture exists, we will continue to denounce the crimes committed against our peoples, even if it leads to prison. In Turkey, our comrades fight even at the cost of torture and the risk of execution and imprisonment. We are ready to pay this here in Europe as well. This will be our greatest response to being criminalised by Europe. We will give it prisoners jailed for the beliefs they hold. In its turn, Europe will have to explain itself to public opinion. Under whatever conditions, we will tell the truth about our country. This is our most legitimate right and we are not the kind of people who will renounce the legitimacy of our cause. European leaders should not worry: we are not going to give them pleasure by disappearing underground. We will not permit them to criminalise us. Only this time we will lose no opportunity to explain that the European Union is protecting torturers and assassins. Europe will have to live with the words "torturer's accomplice" branded on its forehead.

Up to the present, several European institutions spoke of the tortures, rapes and creation of refugees perpetrated by the regime in Ankara. More than half the judgements rendered by the European Court of Human Rights have involved Turkey. The European Union has condemned the state in Turkey on hundreds of occasions for crimes against humanity. So today, when it ought to be pursuing and punishing Turkey for crimes of state terrorism, the Europe Union's 15 members accuse those who fight the regime of practising "terrorism". This is clearly illogical. The United States of America has had a great deal to do with this change in behaviour and has played a concrete role in Europe's duplicitous attitude.

This new list of terrorist organisations is proof that the countries of the EU have given up their national sovereignty and that the dignity of the peoples of Europe has been trampled underneath the boots of the fascist regime in Turkey. The new list of terrorist organisations shows that the torture and massacres perpetrated in Turkey will henceforth be an internal problem of Europe. That means that the European Union will bear principal responsibility for violations of human rights in our country.

May 3, 2002

DEVRIMCI HALK KURTULUS CEPHESI

Brussels Information Bureau