Belgium seeks clarification on Turkish death squad operation

KurdishMedia.com - By Vladimir van Wilgenburg | 3/6/2006

Geert Bourgeois The Belgian minister of Foreign Affairs, Geert Bourgeois (N-VA) demanded clarification of the Turkish ambassador in Brussels in a letter about the murder of the parents of Derwich Ferho, the chairmen of the Kurdish Institute in Brussels. According to Derwich, the Turkish state is behind the murder. “In this way there will be no democracy in Turkey,” the saddened Chairman said. ”Thursday they were killed in a horrible way in their village in Kurdistan,” says Ferho. “Earlier they were threatened, because of the activities of my brother and me in Belgium.” The aged parents Ferho (85) and Fatim (81) Akgül were found Friday by a shepherd in the village Mizizah, close to the Syrian border. “My father was sick and bedridden” tells Derwich Ferho (44). “He was killed in his bed and his ribs were broken. My mother must have resisted, because her throat was cut and she had many wounds inflicted by stabbing.” The murder took place on Thursday evening, after their nephew left the house at 21.30. “My parents were threatened several times last month” says Ferho. “People were saying: your sons must be wiser”. Derwich Ferho has lived in Belgium for more than 28 years. He is recognised as a political refugee and heads the Kurdish institute. His brother Medeni works for Roj TV. ”The army knows more” Ferho (85) en Fatim (81) Akgül were killed in mysterious circumstances. According to Derwich there is no doubt that the Turkish state is behind the murder. “In Kurdistan the contra-guerilla is operating under the Turkish minister of Interior Affairs and has ties with the Secret Service called MIT. These are the same death squads, which committed a lot of assassinations in the nineties”. ”Turkey have been more moderate recently, but now it looks like the hunt is opened again, also on aged people!” According to Ferho the murderers were assisted by Kurdish village guards - a tough Kurdish militia - paid and maintained by the Turkish government. “They didn't break into the house, because the door showed no trace of violence. My mother only opens for Kurdish speaking people for safety.” “In the village nobody saw anything. The house of my parents was very remote. There are four hundred houses in the village, but 380 of them are empty. Most of the inhabitants fled a long time ago.” According to Ferho the army knows more. “They asked for the licence plate of a car that was parked near my parent’s house. This while none of the villagers saw a car, apparently the army knows more. My parents were buried quickly, on the advice of a military commander. There was no real investigation”. ”No democracy possible” The Belgian parties N-VA and Groen demanded that Turkey seriously investigates the murder case. According to European parliament member Bart Staes (Groen!) there can be no trust into the Eu-Turkey membership negotiations with these kinds of operations. “I want a clarification on this case. If this is a form of state terror, then it’s very important” declared the Belgian Minister Bourgeois on the radio. ”Turkey wants to become member of the European Union. If it’s revealed that there is a gross violation of human rights, that’s very important for settling the Turkish accession” said Bourgeois. Ferho hopes that the Belgian minister of Foreign Affairs demands that his Turkish colleague Abdullah Gül at least insists that there is going to be an investigation and that he demands that Turkey stops with death squads and assassinations. “It’s not only about my parents. In the last weeks there were dozen of people killed in Kurdistan. In this way there will be neither peace nor democracy in Turkey”.

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