Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths

The Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths (Devrimci Doğu Kültür Ocakları, DDKO) were an association of mainly Kurdish students in Turkey.[1] It was formed in 1969 and forbidden after the military coup in 1971.

Origins

In the late 60s, the Kurdish students organized so called Eastern Meetings (Doğu Mitingleri) which in 1969 lead to the foundation of the Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths.[2] The DDKO was first present only in Ankara and Istanbul,[1] where Abdullah Öcalan took part in their activities.[3] But soon spread its activities to cities in the Kurdish provinces,[4] branches were established in localities such as Batman, Diyarbakır and Kozluk amongst others.[1]

Ideology and aims

The DDKO organized further meetings and demanded a better development of the Eastern Provinces and also more cultural freedom.[4] The DDKO was very much involved with the society and also published demands the farmers made in their journals.[4] It was a left wing organization as it was involved in organizing in seminars about marxism and socialism. But later also it also organized meetings where the Kurdish question was discussed.[1]

In October 1970, many prominent leaders of the DDKO were arrested. After the military coup of 1971, the DDKO was closed down. Then the DDKO trials began and Musa Anter, Necmettin Büyükkaya and İsmail Beşikçi prepared their defenses.[5] Other important activists for Kurdish rights arrested were Edip Karahan, Mehdi Zana and Mümtaz Kotan, amongst others.[6] The prosecutions arguments were that Kurds don't actually exist, and their language was in reality a dialect of Turkish. The defendants argued that Kurds existed and lived in Eastern Anatolia since 2000 B.C.,[7] while the Turks only arrived in Anatolia in the 11th century. They also argued that Kurdish is an Indo-European language while Turkish is an Altai-Uralic language.[5] The Military tribunal attempted to impede such a defense, for it eventually could be seen as an argument which would be able to be used in the future, but in the end the defense came through and was included to the case files.[5] Many of the defendants were sentenced to over 10 years in prison.[8]

Aftermath

Some former DDKO members attempted to create a successor with the Devrimci Doğu Kültür Derneği (DDKD) but did not have success.[3]

References
  1. Gunes, Cengiz (2013-01-11). The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance. Routledge. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-136-58798-6.
  2. White, Paul (2015). PKK, coming down from the mountains. Zed Books. pp. 13–15. ISBN 9781783600373.
  3. Yılmaz, Kamil (2014). Disengaging from Terrorism - Lessons from the Turkish Penitents. Routledge. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-317-96449-0.
  4. Orhan, Mehmet (2015-10-16). Political Violence and Kurds in Turkey: Fragmentations, Mobilizations, Participations & Repertoires. Routledge. pp. 51–53. ISBN 978-1-317-42044-6.
  5. Beşikçi, İsmail (2004). International Colony Kurdistan. Parvana. pp. 84–88. ISBN 978-1-903656-31-0.
  6. Gunes, Cengiz (2013), p. 43
  7. Orhan, Mehmet (2015),p.70
  8. Taspinar, Omer (2005). Kurdish Nationalism and Political Islam in Turkey: Kemalist Identity in Transition. Psychology Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-415-94998-9.
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