| Union of Communities in Kurdistan Koma Civakên Kurdistan |
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|---|---|
| Leadership | |
| Honorary Leader | Abdullah Öcalan |
| President of Legislative Council | Zübeyir Aydar |
| Chairman of Executive Council | Murat Karayılan |
| Vice-Chairman of Executive Council | Cemil Bayık |
Koma Civakên Kurdistan (KCK) (Union of Communities in Kurdistan) is a Kurdish organization founded by Abdullah Öcalan,[1] formerly named Koma Komalên Kurdistan (KKK) (Peoples' Confederation of Kurdistan), to put in practice his ideology of democratic confederalism.
Abdullah Öcalan is the group's honorary leader, however due to his imprisonment the organisation is led by an Assembly called the Kongra-Gel, which serves as the group's legislature. The President of the Kongra-Gel is Zübeyir Aydar. The Assembly elects a 31-man Executive Council, the Chairman of this Executive Council is Murat Karayılan. Cemil Bayık is said to be the Executive Council's Vice-President.[2][3][4]
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The KCK exists of several councils and other organizations of the Kurdish society. It is designed in a bottom-up structure.[5] Single parts are the youth council, women's council and councils of the four territorial entities of Kurdish people (Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria) and one of the European diaspora, also participating political parties like PKK, PJAK and PYD, non-governmental organizations (NGO) and armed organizations like Hêzên Parastina Gel (HPG).
A parliament-like structure of the KCK is called Kongra Gel, formerly part of Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) structure. Now it consists of 300 elected persons from the councils.[5] The KCK is an alternative to the State. It undertakes all the responsibilities of a State. It establishes courts to solve disputes. It provides schooling. It imposes punishments on those who fail to comply with its rules.[6]
Some commentators see KCK as the modernized version of PKK’s armed structuring in the 1990s. It carries the fear that PKK spreads from mountains to the universities, hospitals, municipalities, and streets. Ihsan Bal, Head of Security Studies, affirm that they can question the mayor, tell tradesman to take down the shutters when the prime minister visits, scare them and organize everything in the region.[7]
Its ideology consists of principles from social ecology and is called democratic confederalism. Main intend is to create a Democracy and ecologic society instead of nation-state or top-down government to bring peace to the war-beaten Middle East region with its lots of different ethnic groups and religions. The aim is a "union of equity an free will".[5]
In March 2005 Abdullah Öcalan gave his Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan[1] to his lawyers. During the 3rd General Assembly of Kongra-Gel between 4 and 21 May 2005 Koma Komalên Kurdistán (KKK) was formed together with the Turkey Coordination. During the General Assembly between 17 and 22 April 2006 Turkey Coordination was renamed to Turkey Parliament (Türkiye Meclisi TM).[8]
During a congress in May 2007 the contract, seen as the Constitution of KCK was passed.[9] The contract names Abdullah Öcalan as the leader. Article 36 of the contract defines the PKK as its ideological power.[8]
Since April 2009 some 1,800 people have been detained on charges of being members of KCK/TM.[10] Most of them were politicians active in the meanwhile closed down Democratic Society Party (DTP) or the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).[11] Trade unionists and human rights defenders have also been among the detainees.[12]
Many of the detainees were put in pre-trial detention, but most of them have been charged with membership of an illegal organization under Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code. Special heavy penal courts in various cities such as Izmir, Adana, Erzurum and Diyarbakir are conducting trials against groups from different towns. While the 31 trade unionists tried in Izmir have all been released their trial was still continuing. The next hearing was scheduled for 1 February 2011.[11] Many more trials were continuing in October 2010.[11] On 18 October 2010 the main trial started at Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court No. 6. It involved 151 defendants, 103 of them in pre-trial detention. The 7578-page indictment was prepared in 15 months. The detainees requested that they be allowed to defend themselves in Kurdish during the trial. The court rejected the request.[13]
After 14 hearings Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court No. 6 adjourned the case on 11 November 2010 to 13 January 2011. It did not allow the defendants to testify in Kurdish pointing at a decision of Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court No. 4 of 10 November 2010 stating that the defendants should not be allowed to speak Kurdish since they had testified to the police and the arresting judge in Turkish.[14][15]
At the beginning of October 2011 the number of detentions since April 2009 was given as 7,748 of whom 3,895 suspects were placed in pre-trial detention.[16] 4,148 detentions were reported from the last six months, resulting in 1,548 arrest warrants.[16] In an answer to the progress report of the European Union of 12 October 2011[17] The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on 14 October 2011 that a total of 605 people suspected of membership of KCK remained in pre-trial detention.[18]
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