state the compensation of damages arising from the violation of basic rights and freedoms such as life, shelter, health and education.”16
x. “General Assessments:” The migration that occurred in the 1990s in Eastern
and Southeastern Anatolia should be considered “forced migration” and not “voluntary migration.”
xi. “General Principles:”
Rural areas: Evictions should come to an end. The rule of law should be instituted
in the region. The village guard system should be abolished within the purview of a “provisional employment project.” Persons owning property in villages where return cannot take place must be compensated. Living conditions should be improved in villages where return can take place, and the state must ensure that villagers whoreturn can conduct a normal life. Return to villages must be supported by the state within the framework of a comprehensive project. Returns should take place in a democratic environment and in accordance with people’s free will and choice. The decision about which villages can be resettled must be made by the residents of those villages and not by security forces. Resettlement of hamlets must be excluded from the return project due to the difficulty of bringing public services to very small places of settlement. On the condition that the necessary feasibility studies are carried out and the principle of voluntariness is respected, “central villages” can be formed in certain areas by combining a few villages. The socio-economic and urban infrastructure can thus be provided in a more rational way. Educational opportunities as well as preventive and restorative healthcare services in the region need to be established urgently. Animal husbandry must be reinvigorated in rural areas and reforestation must be carried out.17
Urban areas: The shelter, employment, healthcare, and education problems of
internally displaced persons (“IDPs”) who do not wish to return to their villages and who wish to remain in cities must be solved urgently. The state has the duty to meet the shelter needs of those who do not wish to return to their villages. Public housing projects on appropriate terms need to be developed for migrants. Vocational and skill development courses must be opened in areas where IDPs have migrated. Resources that municipalities, special provincial administrations, social aid and solidarity foundations, and other social funds receive from the state must be increased.
i. “General Policies:” The state’s long-standing approach to issues in Southeastern
Anatolia as solely a security problem, without sufficiently taking into
16 Ibid., 63. 17 Ibid., 74-75, 77.
consideration “democratic rights, the rule of law, equality, identity, culture and socio-economic development” has caused the problem to reach a deadlock.18 The
solution to the problems must be developed within the Turkish Parliament and a nationwide public forum needs to be created in order to discuss these issues. An environment of tolerance, peace and solidarity covering all ethnic and cultural groups has to be developed. Extralegal activities within the state apparatus must come to an end. Amnesty must be granted for those who have been arrested or convicted on the grounds of aiding and abetting the PKK and for expressing political opinions deemed illegal by the state. The rule of law and the independence of the judiciary must be ensured. “Legal, institutional and social obstacles preventing the expression of identities by all groups with different ethnicities, beliefs, and origins that form the richness of Turkey’s cultural mosaic should be abolished; the Kurdish identity should be recognized in this context.”19
Many of the assessments and suggestions made in the parliament report are still relevant today. However, especially when evaluated in light of the “Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement” (“Guiding Principles”), some of the proposals in the report are problematic. For example, the proposal to form central villagesconflicts with the principle that return should be based on choice. On the other hand, the proposal to nationalize property in villages where returns are not permitted due to security reasons, is not an acceptable one, as it would make permanent the inability to return
and would give public officials the authority to arbitrarily disallow returns to certain areas.
“The Eastern and Southeastern Preliminary Report” (1998), prepared by a working group within the CHP, presents a similar analysis to that of the Turkish Parliamentary Investigation Commission. The report says that pressure, lack of security, and problems of livelihood in the region have resulted in intensive migration. It states that the army’s quest to wage a fight against the PKK “in a very vast and depopulated region constitutes one of the main, but not openly expressed, reasons behind the forced eviction of people from villages.” The report cites 450,000 as the number of displaced persons. Quoting official data, the report also points out that there has been an increase in cases of typhoid fever and dysentery along with serious inadequacies in healthcare and educational services in the region.
3. REPORTS ON IDPs