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AN UPRISING IN THE TURKISH SECTION of Kurdistan, which began in midMarch this year,1 has had serious effects on many aspects of politics in Turkey as a whole. This paper will briefly examine some of the most important of those effects and discuss their ramifications for Kurdish nationalists.
The uprising began on 12 March, following a batde between PKK guerillas and Turkish troops in the district of Savur in Mardin province. Some 40 troops and 13 guerillas were killed in the clash. During the batde, helicopters bombed fields adjacent to the village.2
The battle occurred at the start of Newroz, the Kurdish New Year. For Kurds, Newroz has for millennia been the most important annual national celebration. It is a celebration of life, and the elusive goal of freedom, as well as of the new year. For the Kurds, Newroz symbolises their yearning for national self-determination. The coincidence of the particularly savage batde in Mardin province with Newroz sparked a regional uprising.
On 14 March five thousand people in the city of Nusaybin demonstrated at the funeral of Kamuran Dundar, a guerilla killed at the earlier battle of Savur. Turkish special units attacked the funeral, killing a 22-year-old man, Semsettin Çifri, and causing a stampede in which a little girl was trampled to death. More than 700 people were arrested and tens of demonstrators were wounded by troops.3
Protests were organised the following day in Nusaybin. Workers struck, shops remained shut, and students boycotted schools and colleges. Demonstrators fought security forces on the streets of Nusaybin. During the following week, both the Dundar and Çifti families said that troops beat up visitors arriving to offer condolences, insulted them and called them Jews and Armenians.4
Mass solidarity demonstrations were quickly organised across Turkish Kurdistan and even in Turkey itself. Almost 1,000 demonstrators were arrested, including in Ankara and Istanbul. General strike action spread throughout Mardin province.5 A solidarity demonstration was also organised by the inhabitants of Qamishli in Syrian Kurdistan.6
A 15,000-strong demonstration of residents in Cizre in Mardin province (a town with only 30,000 people) was attacked by army and police special units during March. Many people were wounded in apparently indiscriminate shooting by the state's forces and one demonstrator was crushed to death...