04/28/2014

Support for protests by Kurds and Turks in Istanbul: Society for Threatened Peoples criticizes the U.S. travel ban on Turkish Kurds experts

The U.S. refuses the entry of the sociologist Ismail Besikci

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) is supporting the planned visit of the American Consulate in Istanbul today by Turks and Kurds who want to protest against an imposed entry ban by the U.S. authorities on the Turkish Kurd expert and sociologist Ismail Besikci. “Refusing Besikci’s entry into the U.S. is a scandalous attempt to silence a widely respected voice of a scientist for the Kurds in Turkey“, criticized Dr. Kamal Sido, Middle East consultant of the international human rights organization based in Goettingen.

At the invitation of the Kurdish American Society (KAS), Besikci was give talks at two conferences in New York and Washington DC about the situation of the Kurds and other minorities in Turkey. Besikci is expected in Germany from the 26th to 31th May. The Society for Threatened together with the Kurdish Community of Germany (KGD) and the Centre for Kurdish Studies in Bonn (NAVEND) Peoples has invited him for talks and lectures.

Besikci and his companion Gurbuz Ibrahim, head of the Ismail-Besikci Foundation, have reported at the passport control at Istanbul Ataturk Airport on Sunday, that the authorities in Washington do not whish them to enter the United States. The U.S. consulate in Istanbul had previously issued a valid visa to them. In protest against the refusal of entry and the demand for clarification, the Ismail Besikci Foundation has called for a visit in Istanbul.

The Turkish citizen Ismail Besikci is a sociologist. He is doing research on the situation of the 15 million Kurds in Turkey. In the past, he has been imprisoned and abused many times. Because of his publications about the persecution and discrimination of Kurds, Besikci was sentenced to 100 years in prison and a fine of ten billion Lira (approximately 5.1 billion Euros) in the past four decades. Eight times he actually had to take a penalty. Therefore, he had to spend a total 17 years in Turkish prisons. He was accused of "founding a secret one-man organization". 32 of his 36 books that not only deal with the Kurdish question, but also with the persecution of religious minorities such as the Alevis, Yezidis or the Armenian, the Syriac and Greek-Orthodox Christians were or are still banned in Turkey.


Dr. Kamal Sido, head of STP's Middle East department, is available for further questions: +49 551 499 06 18 or nahost@gfbv.de.