Dutch “Restore Justice” Organisation Conference – What Price The Life of a Kurdish Activist?

Had Hüseyin Baybaşin agreed for his clan to become ‘village guards’ and bear

arms against fellow Kurds = and be ‘friendly’ to the Turkish government – none of the subsequent problems would have arisen.

Retired judges, prosecutors, regional governors in charge of prisons and security for regions and prison officials believing in Kurdish activist, Hüseyin Baybaşin’s innocence have lobbied together under the name of the ‘Restore Justice Organisation’. They are organising a conference with Dutch scholars and political scientists – who have been writing on the illegal measures resorted to by the Ministry of Justice and police in collaboration with Turkey – to be held in Utrecht on Saturday afternoon of 14 October 2017.

An official document dating to 1996 when Hüseyin Baybaşin was held in Breda Prison says there is not a shred of evidence of any connection with drug trafficking, and this was sent to the defence by the US. The US said they were speaking with Baybaşin and no suspicion was attached to him. Similarly, a senior Israeli official stated that before they had met with Baybaşin they had been required to obtain clearance to do so.

Two high level British officials also stated the same in front of investigating Dutch Judge Sterk, who stated he believed in Baybaşin’s innocence when deliberating on the case in the year 2000. Judge Sterk wrote to Baybaşin’s sister in the UK and stated she could use his letter to prove that there was no case saying: “I saw your brother. He doesn’t look good. (Because he was on hunger strike at this point). I believe you have to speak with the politicians about your brother’s case and you can use my letter as a reference. He had visited Baybaşin in EBI Vught and said to him: “When they gave me your case they pictured you as a monster and now I have spoken with everyone in the UK, Canada, US and Turkey and made my own investigation and what I have in my hands shows that the charges being used are ‘holding charges’ and require proof of their accusations. I’ve obtained the facts – I see that those that fabricated the case against you are the monsters. You need a good lawyer (when V. Koppe, B. Bohler and S.Franken were acting).”

However, Judge Sterk, was then removed and appointed as a judge to the High Court and then the Supreme Court two weeks later. The new investigation judge stopped everything Judge Sterk had started.

The Turkish media war has planted disinformation that was swallowed whole by the foreign press without their undertaking their own investigation of sources. Turkish language Aydinlik newspaper was one of the few that took the time to examine the facts and report the circumstances based on the evidence.1

KURDISH HISTORICAL FACT SHEET

Hüseyin Baybaşin was born in Licê in Turkey’s Kurdish south east region (they refer to as north Kurdistan) in 1956. He is the grandson of the notable Kurdish clan leader, Husên (the Kurdish name) Agha, after whom he is named.

The Baybasin family are the modern-day descendants of a mighty Kurdish clan with a history dating back to 5000 BC long before the wars between the Persian and Ottoman Empires and link to the Kassite kingdom (in, Kurdish Kassidi).2 The family was fighting against the Persians and when they settled in Entak and Lice, along with other Kurdish fiefdoms, they made an agreement with the Ottomans and new problems then arose for the Kurdish clans. These tribes date back to 9th century Zerkan (base of gold).

In the period of the Kassites3, the clan moved down the Tigris and established themselves in Serêkaniyê (Arabic, Ras al-Ayn) and Kobane c. 5000 BC. Hessin Zeraki moved from Serêkaniyê to Mardin and his children were called the Zerkani.

He married the daughter of the king of Mardin migrating to the south east of Licê (which literally means ‘the right place’) taking residence in Entak before the Republic of Turkey’s foundation.

During the Sheik Said rebellion in 1925 coming on the heels of the foundation of the secular state of Turkey on 29 October 1923, Hüseyin Baybaşin ’s grandfather, Husên Agha, from Lice, fought alongside Sheikh Said. “The revolt provided occasion for the assumption of dictatorial powers by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) and Ismet (Inönü).”4

Upon the death of his grandfather, the ownership of the estate of Husên Agha passed to his heirs, including 43, 000 hectares of land that included grazing land for livestock, and another 50,000 hectares of highland (in Turkish, daglik alani) with forest and quarries. (the original land belonging to the Zerkan around Licê, and from Entak to Hani and Kulp is greater than the size of Holland.

In 1984 when the PKK’s armed insurgency got underway the Turkish state occupied 80 % of the family land as they refused to become village guards (köy korucular) to fight fellow Kurds. Much of this land was then sown with deadly landmines and declared a Turkish military zone. Even the family graveyard became off limits and the family was no longer able to pay their respects to their dead. It was simply declared a military zone. The military then destroyed all the graves and made it into military lodging and a playground for military families. They systematically do this to Kurdish land and destroy the Kurdish registration documents from Ottoman times.

DUTCH AND TURKISH STATE PLOT: “DESTROY KURDISH ACTIVIST, HÜSEYIN BAYBAŞIN”

* Before he died, the late Turkish police chief, Necdet Menzir, revealed that a team of some 20 people was deployed to various European countries to go and give the word on the street that they were working for Hüseyin Baybaşin and were told to carry out criminal activities that would then be blamed on him. However, Interpol has sent a document to his defence lawyer that they never had a file on him.

* An official Turkish document in the possession of Hüseyin Baybaşin ’s defence lawyers constitutes hard evidence that he has no criminal record.5

* In a case in Germany between 2004-2005 a suspect was claiming before the judge to have been working for Baybaşin and wanting to leave his organisation but was afraid he would be killed if he did so. He claimed he had been staying in Huseyin’s house and had been there recently with him. The judge told him he was lying as Hüseyin Baybaşin had been imprisoned in Holland for the past six years so he could not possibly have seen him, stayed with him or worked for him.

* Further stories were planted in the media to incriminate both Huseyin and other family members. One story accuses his younger brother Abdullah of being found with large quantities of drugs in 1971. At that time, Abdullah was nine-years’ old. A case against Abdullah in the UK also collapsed on the basis of falsified phone tap recordings and he was acquitted.

* Other stories refer to Baybaşin family members that do not exist and never existed, such as the made-up name of Doğan Baybaşin. Fantastic tales were widely published without their authors and journalists checking the legal records.

• No Interpol arrest warrant ever existed for Hüseyin Baybaşin.
• Hüseyin Baybaşin had no criminal record.
• Hüseyin Baybaşin has never been charged with any form of drug offence.
• Hüseyin Baybaşin is imprisoned on trumped up charges in the Netherlands and convicted on the basis of 99% falsified phone tap evidence, mistranslated from the original Kurdish by an unnamed prosecution translator – if the person even exists.
• A plan was formulated to brand Hüseyin Baybaşin a “drug trafficker” in the media.
• Hüseyin Baybaşin’s detention in Holland was effected on the instructions of the Turkish state in a political conspiracy to get him out of the way as his activism on behalf of the Kurdish movement for rights and freedoms in Turkey was viewed as threat by Çiller’s government and the Turkish government.
• Hüseyin Baybaşin exposed the Turkish state’s running of 80% of all Turkey’s narcotics trade implicating President Süleyman Demirel, former PM Tansu Çiller and her husband Özer Çiller6, and Demirel’s nephew abetted by corrupt police officials. 7
• Hüseyin Baybaşin was named on a now-published hit list. Many other Kurdish businessmen were killed but Hüseyin escaped to the UK before they could execute him in Turkey. 8
• The UK entirely investigated and found no evidence of any criminal activity on his part and he and his family were granted residence.
• Despite twenty years in prison, Hüseyin Baybaşin has sought to improve the lives of fellow Kurds, develop Kurdish businesses and institutions. He helped establish Med TV (the first ever Kurdish satellite TV channel which was legal in Europe and the Kurdish Parliament in Exile, also legal. For these reasons the Turkish state wanted to disempower him. The result was a cynical political conspiracy.

CASES SO FAR WON

• For the past seven years a review of the case has been ongoing with more than ten international experts finding the original evidence flawed and constructed simply to secure a conviction. The prosecution ignoring all the defence evidence seeks not to budge from its original position.
• Had the charges of ordering two murders, and seeking to kidnap the hit man sent to kill him (over which Baybaşin brought the complaint) had a factual basis there an Interpol arrest warrant would have been issued against him– there was no such warrant and there is still no such warrant.
• Hüseyin Baybaşin was never charged in connection with drugs in any country.
• Hüseyin Baybaşin has so far won five cases against Holland, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009 and recently, 2017. They accuse him he was planning to escape but all these were proven false and he won them.

In 2004, the ECHR upheld his complaint against being wrongfully isolated in solitary confinement more than 4-5 times on the pretext he was trying to escape, under Article 3 (ill treatment) and Article 8 (deprivation of the right to speak with his family in Kurdish for twelve years).

In 2007, at the national level he pressed criminal charges against MOJ Secretary General, Joris Demmink for trying to visit him by force in prison that same year. It was Demmink that had reached an agreement with the Turks to press criminal charges against Hüseyin Baybaşin as he was being blackmailed over paedophile acts with Turkish minors in Turkey. 9Huseyin was wrongfully isolated for refusing to see Demmink.

Decision in Turkey 2013 – All charges against Hüseyin Baybaşin in connection with the Öge (Japanese Tea garden murder) were dropped. Documents show he had no connection with the Kismetim 1 ship drug haul. This boat was later shown to have been carrying drugs that belonged to the Turkish state. The person in charge at the time was former chief Necdet Mezir who stated the same on record. All in Dutch court an BS Foundation.

A case was heard on 21 September 2017 over Hüseyin Baybaşin being illegally imprisoned in a remand prison, Schie Penitentiary, without adequate facilities for a person subject to a life sentence without parole that is still being reconsidered.

Charges exist solely concerning a biography about Hüseyin Baybaşin written by the late Kurdish author, Mahmut Baksi, called Teyre Baz yada Hüseyin Baybaşin (Hüseyin Baybaşin – The Kurdish Falcon). These charges are Turkish political charges in common use being ‘devleti küçük düşürmek’ and ‘devletin ve milletin bölünmez bütünlüğü…, (damaging the reputation of the Turkish state and seeking to separate off a part of the indivisible state). These accusations allege Hüseyin Baybaşin was supporting the PKK financially by financing MED TV, and the Kurdistan Parliament in Exile. There is nothing on paper as these organisations were officially registered and entirely legal in Europe.

A further case was brought alleging Hüseyin Baybaşin illegally made 6 million euros’ profit from building apartments on plots of land he owned in Turkey but there are no apartments there. Despite this the Dutch MOJ is trying to take 2 million from Hüseyin Baybaşin to hand over to Turkey. Photographs and official documents – including displays on Google Earth – show no apartments have been built. All have been given to the court.

There are no cases against Hüseyin Baybaşin in the UK where he was living before being taken hostage in the Netherlands at the request of the Turkish state 22 years ago in the 1995 agreement. He has denied all wrongdoing throughout the period of sentence and the commutation of life to life without parole for ordering two murders that he has been found to have no connection with. The Dutch Justice Ministry should have released him immediately but continue to hold him relying on montaged phone conversations that were then translated to fit the bill.

INSIST ON KURDISH RIGHTS IN TURKEY: BE NAMED ON THE HIT LIST

It was none other than Hüseyin Baybaşin who took the decision for his clan not to become village guards for the Turkish state ad bear arms against fellow Kurds. He told the Turkish government officials he knew at first hand that he didn’t believe the system would work. Had he agreed and had the clan been seen as ‘friendly’ to the Turkish government none of his subsequent problems would have arisen. It was a principled decision to refuse to take up arms against other Kurds – from whatever political background or whatever political party they belonged to.

Hüseyin Baybaşin insisted the Turkish state protect Kurdish people’s rights and form a legal basis for this. The state refused. They murdered friends and relatives and instead followed the hit list they’d drawn up.

Disagreement with other Kurdish parties should be non-violent, Hüseyin insisted – even with the PKK. If Kurds want a better organisation to represent them, it is up them to choose to do so and form something better but not fight one another for the sake of the Turkish state.

Baybaşin found it unacceptable to kill. He argued against what Kurds call ‘Birakuji’ (Fratricide). If you can disagree with the PKK – or any other Kurdish party – and think you can do better, then drawn up plans and show what you will improve has been his philosophy. This activism was considered intolerable by the Turkish state. The team sent to kill him in the Netherlands failed. Instead Baybaşin was framed on false charges and the reconsideration has already exceeded the reasonable time frame allowed: the prosecution has spent seven years to ‘reconsider’ after Hüseyin Baybaşin has spent more than twenty years in prison insisting he is innocent. Documents submitted to the prosecution show this to be so. Hence the conference to be held in support of his case organised by Dutch officials and academics deeply frustrated by the countermanding of their own system.

Meantime, despite being in prison, Hüseyin Baybaşin is helping homeless Kurdish youth through the sale of his paintings; writing articles and poems published on a website, and sharing his views with fellow Kurds. He is not totally isolated despite the pressure of the Dutch government on the instructions of the Turks.