Kurdish Youth stand trial in Turkey for singing a song
As the world turns, injustice continues. And as injustice continues, the Kurds continue to be without a voice…
Last year, a group by the name of The Children’s Voices of Diyarbakir that consists of Kurdish youth aged 8 to 16 years of age, many who are orphaned, received a rare opportunity to participate in a World Music Festival in California. The kids put on a wonderful performance that could - and perhaps did - even put tears of joy to the eyes of non-Kurdish attendees as much as they did for Kurdish attendees.
This Kurdish youth group is composed of mostly orphans and was put together through a program initiated by Kurds in Turkey to help get the youth off the streets by engaging them in positive activities. At the festival in California, the kids sang a wide range of traditional Kurdish folk songs, played instruments, and even danced for the audience.
Now, back in Turkey, a few of them are facing charges by Turkish prosecutors for singing these songs in California…
3 Kurdish teenagers could stand trial for singing rebel song in US
The Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey: A lawyer says three Kurdish teenagers could stand trial for allegedly singing a Kurdish rebel song under rebel flags during a music festival in the United States in October.
Defense lawyer Baran Pamuk says the teenagers were part of a 15-member chorus that allegedly sang a song called “Enemy” during a tour of San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He says an indictment demands their prosecution on charges of spreading the separatist propaganda of the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is fighting the Turkish state.
Pamuk said Tuesday a court will decide whether to hear the case. The three are aged between 16 and 17.
Well, the song that was actually sung by these children is entitled, “Ey Reqîb”, which is translated to “Hey Guard”. The song comes from a poem written by a late Kurdish political prisoner from Iraqi Kurdistan named Dildar (1917-1948) who wrote the poem in prison, hence the name.
Nowadays, people tend to translate the title of the song to “Hey Enemy”, as the prosecution did. The song is familiar to Kurds all over the world and has become known as the Kurdish national anthem.
Apparently singing this old piece from 1938 is considered a crime in Turkey, as are the so-called rebel flags that these kids were singing in front of. (The “rebel flags” were actually the Kurdish flag, and not exactly the flag of any particular rebel group or party.) The flag has become the official flag of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, as has the anthem.
News of these children appeared in the Turkish media first in order to rile up the Turkish public by claiming the children were spreading “separatist propaganda” like the AP article states above. Now the Turkish prosecution is working hard to put these children in prison… sadly, we all know what happens to Kurdish children in the custody of officers. (See the video of the Turkish officer breaking a 15-year-old’s arm in front of the camera here.)
By the way, in case you are wondering what happened to the 15-year-old in that video, Progressive Historians summed up a sequence of events on their site about his situation… he is in jail. For a few days, his father had been worried sick about his whereabouts until he saw the video of his son’s arm being broken on Kurdish TV. It was then his father, who can hardly afford it, set out to hire lawyers to defend his son from charges that Turkish prosecutors are planning on pressing against him. (Shouldn’t the officers torturing him be the ones on trial?)
According to the Hakkari Bar Association in Turkey, his arm was indeed broken (despite denials by the Turkish police) and lawyers who were able to visit the boy said his arm is wrapped in bandages.
There is no news as to whether he will be released.
What a cruel world!
And they want to join the EU?
Let me first say proudly that I was one of the fortunate Kurd to host those beautiful children of “Koma Denge Zaroken Amede” to perform in Sand Diego. What a shame and hypocritical of the Kamalist state of Turkey to call itself a democratic state and to commit such actions against these innocent children. Such actions are truly unheard of anywhere around the world.
What is next for this insecure and barbaric regime? Would they go ahead and bring to trial the one million Kurdish people in Diyabakir? Who celebrated Newroz on March 21, 2008, where almost all the songs were patriotic, and “rebel songs”, where everyone was waving the PKK, DTP, and Kurdish flags. Would they go ahead and break the hands of all the Kurdish children for raising those flags? Would they crush all the Kurdish mothers for wearing their Kurdish cloths to celebrate Newroz? As they recently did in Van, Hakkari, Shernex, and Gevere.
It is a big shame for the world to stay quite about such inhumane and barbaric Turkish actions against the Kurdish people. As much as I stand behind those people protesting around the world against China for the mis-treatment of the Tibetan, however as a Kurd, I truly find it hypocritical and ignorant of them to stand idly by, while the Kurdish people are persecuted 100 times worse by the Turkish regime.
Luqman Barwari (USA)
[…] in Turkey, for singing patriotic Kurdish songs, while on tour in the US, reports Kurdish blogger Goran. Posted by Amira Al Hussaini Share […]
ım very sad
The state of Turkey vs. 3 Kurdish children, what a surprise! Turkey really ought to be ashamed of itself for such frivolous charges involving innocent orphans. I was at their concert in San Diego and I saw nothing more than a group of wonderfully happy and talented youth who expressed their love for their ancient music and culture. If only a day can come where governments can be put on trial for silencing such magnificent voices!
The world will be silent and blind, once again…
It is quiet upsetting how they present this peace of news through AP. The song that was sang does NOT belong to any group, rather, it belongs to all Kurds. But i guess in a country that fears anything Kurdish, a country that has denied the existence of kurds and their culture, it is quiet alright to put kids on trial for singing.
It must be a crime, as well, to celebrate an ancient celebration of Newroz. Maybe, this is why they broke young Cunyet’s arm, or maybe this is part of the Turkish policy, as said by the PM himself:
“Security forces will intervene with every possible means indiscriminately, including against women and children.”
- Recib Tayyip Erdogan
Such horrible news! But then again I am not surprised to hear about this because these have been the actions of these barbaric Turks for centuries. We, as Kurds, must stay strong and have organized campaigns to educated the world and make everyone aware of these acts. Lets plan something big and not just mini demonstrations.
WOAH!!!! in US!? WT*? so now they cant even be themselves overseas
BS! :@
Turkey has its agenda, and the Kurdish people have theirs. But no matter what your agenda is, you have to think twice about sacrificing the innocence of the young. Once you do that, you are putting yourself in jeopardy, no matter how much you believe in your cause.
Sacrifice the innocence of the young?? The programs are built to get young Kurds off the street in cities where unemployment rates are 70-80% according to statistics and giving homes to orphans. How the hell is that sacrificing the innocence of the young??!
The only crime (and its only a crime in a ridiculously stupid country like Turkey) that these kids committed was singing a song. And a song that is one of the most popular Kurdish songs in the world that millions of people sing. How can you even dare to justify that?? This isn’t about a cause, this is about a basic right!
I think I didn’t make myself clear, Bakuri. I am not blaming the kids for singing. I am blaming adults, when they put kids in the position of bearing the brunt of conflicts beyond their control.
So, for example, it is wrong of Turkey to put the kids on trial, or to break a child’s arm, for whatever conceivable justification it may come up with. The children did not cause the conflict, and should not bear the heavy weight of the conflict.
Similarly, it is wrong to put kids in a situation where they are likely to become victimized. If the kids were encouraged by adults to sing certain songs that would put them in harms way, that is wrong as well. We must protect our children, and we are not entitled to make symbols out of them.
The innocence of a child is probably one of the most precious resources we have. We cannot squander that resource, no matter what the cause is. If we have to fight it out, fine. But leave the kids out of the picture.
And so again I ask how is helping children of the street and giving orphans homes putting them in harms way? Doing these things is actually taking them out of harms way.
I see what you are saying and if these kids were being told to carry pictures of rebels or praise war, then your argument might make sense. But they simply sang a song that millions of Kurds around the world know by heart and sing at every celebration.
There is no one to blame for the well-being of these children than the spineless Turkish prosecutors putting them on trial and the backwards Turkish regime supporting such spineless acts.
The Turkish government has displaced millions of Kurds with no compensation, killed thousands, and the result is children on the streets selling whatever they can to help support their starving families. The Turkish government refuses to help them and when the local Kurdish politicians finally find a way to get these children help, Turkey reacts by putting the kids on trial for singing a simple song that says “let no one say the Kurds are dead, we are alive, Kurds are alive.” Freaking ridiculous.
Bakuri, in the Bible it is written that the parents will eat sweets, and the teeth of the children will become rotten. The meaning here is that the adults create all sorts of messes, and the innocent ones, the children, are the ones who suffer.
I realize that you feel it is completely Turkey’s fault. You may be right, but I am not familiar with all the details. But in any event, no matter who is right or wrong, the children suffer. It may well be time to put their best interest above political ideology. I am not pointing fingers. I’m just saying that their welfare should be a major part of the calculation. And this applies to almost all of the conflicts out there, including between Israel and the Palestinians.
I need the words to the song, and I need the song, because i want to memorize it and sing it every where, or put it on my cell phone, so my phone would sing their song as well.
We had a poetess in Iran ( Foroogh Farrokhzad) she believed :
Voice, Voices…. Its only the voice that stays alive forever..
Elinor, you’re one eloquent lady!
Dear Elinor,
Per your request, please find two links, the first one will link you the the “Ey Reqib” song– original version in Sorani Kurdish dialect. The other version sang by the Koma Zaroken Amede is the Kurmanji translation of this.
http://www.kurdmania.com/Forum-topic-2614.html
The bellow link will also take you to a beautiful music video made of the Koma Zaroken Amede. The song is about themselves, singing that “we are the children of Amed, and we are calling for peace….” Hope you will enjoy.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=31A1qywx6vU&feature=related
Zaroke
Thank you my dear.
Luqman
Thank you my dear for the words and the link 
Jı Xwedé re hemd u sena, peyxamberé wi Mıhemmed Mıstefe re salat u sılav be ku; édi em Kurd ji dengé xwe derdıxinın.. Hezar car şukır..
[…] Charges against Kurdish Youth for singing a song continue in Turkey Author: Goran (Kurdistan/USA) - June 10, 2008 Some of you may remember about two months ago, I wrote a report on a Kurdish children’s choir that are facing prison charges by Turkish prosecutors for simply singing a few old Kurdish songs. (See that report here). […]
[…] Author: Esra’a (Bahrain) - June 29, 2008 This comic is inspired by the Kurdish youth who have been harrassed and charged in Turkey simply for singing a song in the Kurdish […]
[…] comic is inspired by the Kurdish youth who have been harrassed and charged in Turkey simply for singing a song in the Kurdish […]