Doc. 8723
15 April 2000

Emergency humanitarian aid for the displaced Kurdish population of Turkey

Motion for a recommendation

presented by Mrs Vermot-Mangold and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

1.       Owing to the conflict which lasted for some fifteen years in south-east Turkey, a large part of the countryside has been devastated and its Kurdish population forced to flee.

2.       According to the reports of human rights organisations, more than 3 800 towns and villages have been destroyed and some 3 500 000 people forced to leave their homes in order to live in precarious conditions on the outskirts of the cities.

3.       With no work and no means of subsistence, these people are deprived of even the most basic amenities, such as drinking water or proper sanitation. The death rate is high, particularly among children and the elderly.

4.       The infrastructure of the rural economy in south-east Turkey has been paralysed. Deprived of a market economy and industry, the region has also lost its more traditional forms of economic activity, namely livestock rearing and agriculture. Forced by the military to leave their homes at very short notice, the Kurdish population had to abandon any farming machinery and sell off their livestock at very low prices. Since it fell into disuse in 1991, the cultivable land has been invaded by weeds and scrub. The irrigation channels are unusable.

5.       Even though more than a year has elapsed since the PKK abandoned its armed struggle and withdrew its militants from Turkish territory, the Turkish government has yet to allow the Kurdish population to return to their homes and has failed to provide any aid in order to regenerate the countryside.

6.       The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers

 waste no further time in replying to Recommendation 1377 (1998) on the humanitarian situation of the Kurdish refugees and displaced persons in south-east Turkey and north Irak ;

 carry out a study on socio-economic conditions in south-east Turkey ;

 alert its member states to the need to provide emergency humanitarian aid for Turkey’s Kurdish population ;

 immediately request the Council of Europe’s Development Bank to finance a development project for the region.

Signed : ¹

Vermot-Mangold, Switzerland, SOC

Auken, Denmark, UEL

Besostri, Italy, SOC

Busic, Croatia, EPP/CD

Chiliman, Romania, LDR

Christodoulides, Cyprus, UEL

Cilevics, Latvia, SOC

Connor, Ireland, EPP/CD

Cox, United Kingdom, SOC

Cryer, United Kingdom, SOC

Einarsson, Sweden, UEL

Elo, Finland, SOC

Hadjidemetriou, Cyprus, SOC

Hancock, United Kingdom, LDR

Judd, United Kingdom, SOC

Jurgens, Netherlands, SOC

Laakso, Finland, UEL

Lörcher, Germany, SOC

McCafferty, United Kingdom, SOC

McNamara, United Kingdom, SOC

Mikaelsson, Sweden, UEL

Nabholz-Haidegger, Switzerland, LDR

O’Hara, United Kingdom, SOC

Pinggera, Italy, EPP/CD

Poptodorova, Bulgaria, SOC

Pozza Tasca, Italy, LDR

Rise, Norway, EPP/CD

Saele, Norway, EPP/CD

Slutsky, Russia, SOC*

Soendergaard, Denmark, UEL

Stoisits, Austria, SOC*

Tabajdi, Hungary, SOC

Terpstra, Netherlands, LDR

Vanoost, Belgium, NR

Vis, United Kingdom, SOC

von Schmude, Germany, EPP/CD

Wurm, Austria, SOC

Zapfl-Helbling, Switzerland, EPP/CD

Zwerver, Netherlands, SOC

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group