PKK Terror in the US Supreme Court

"To help Hizbullah build a house, is to help Hizbullah build a bomb."
United States Department of Justice

"A penny saved by terror, is a penny earned for terror."
ATAA President Gunay Evinch

Dear ATAA Members and Friends of Türkiye:

While the Armenian Resolution H.Res. 252 threatens to derail Turkish - Armenian rapprochement, and severely damage US-Turkish relations for the long term, Turkish Americans are also currently challenged by efforts by a group which wants to revoke the anti-terror laws of this country and provide assistance to the PKK and other terrorist organizations.

On February 23, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (HLP). The HLP wants to provide financial assistance to the PKK terrorist organization and considers this to be its freedom of speech. 

What is this "freedom of speech"? This is from an ATAA member to the HLP:

"As a victim of a PKK terrorist attack that killed two people and severely wounded my father, it sometimes seems that I am left only with the freedom of speech to seek justice.

An act of terror lasts a lifetime. One evening as my father arrived home from work, the PKK set off a bomb in our neighborhood in Turkey. According to my father, the two persons sitting in the front seat of the car drowned as blood entered their lungs from the shrapnel that punctured their chests. My father received over 100 pieces of shrapnel that mutilated his legs and burned his skin. He dragged himself to our home, where he fainted on our front porch in a pool of blood. I was in school in Virginia, when the FBI brought me the bad news. A knock on the door reminds me of that day in 1992, and it reminds my father of the sound of gun shots and bombs.

HLP says it wants to train the PKK on how to work the UN for its cause. If you were to provide a forum to Al Qaeda spokespersons at luncheons at the United Nations, how do you think the families of the more than 3000 who died on September 11 and more than 5000 American servicemen and women who have died defending the free world against terror, would feel?

Please know that when you give money and a voice to terror, you kill the victims, over and over. You engage in terror yourself."

The HLP conceals the fact that the PKK terrorist organization has caused the deaths of over 30,000 people since 1984. The HLP conceals the fact that the PKK is one of the world's largest organized crime syndicates, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, arms trafficking, women exploitation, and smuggling. The HLP misleads the public to believe that the political process in Türkiye with respect to Turkish citizens of Kurdish descent means that the PKK should be considered a political party rather than a terrorist organization. The HLP is under a mental aberration that one can give money to the "non-violent" activities of the PKK, while discouraging it's violent activities. But, as the tens of thousands of victims of terror know too well, a penny saved by a terrorist organization, is a penny earned for terror.

The ATAA strongly disagrees with the HLP, and conveys its heartfelt sympathies and wishes of strength to the people of Türkiye and the victims of PKK. The ATAA finds the Supreme Court keen to hold all terrorist organizations equal, and to draw analogies with Hamas and Hizbullah. The Supreme Court Justices questioned how a financial donation to Hamas could be separated into lawful and unlawful purposes. The Supreme Court Justices questioned whether terror organizations are groups based on practical objectives that use violence, rather than political parties based on useful ideologies. The ATAA supports the United States Department of Justice, who analogized that "to help Hizbullah build a home, is to help Hizbullah build a bomb." Again, a penny saved by a terrorist organization, is a penny earned for terror.

The HLP case arose in Los Angeles in the 9th Circuit, and conflicts with the 5th Circuit in Texas and 6th Circuit in Ohio. In the 6th Circuit, the Court of Appeals ruled in the case of Parlak, that the PKK is a racist group which kills Turks as well as Kurds who do not agree with the PKK's objectives. Parlak, who the United States says was a member of the PKK and involved in the deaths of two Turkish border patrols, was denied refugee status, because a person who persecutes others and causes them to be refugees, cannot himself claim to be a refugee. Parlak has stated his intention to appeal. ATAA commends the 6th Circuit for its stand against terror.

In the 5th Circuit, the Court ruled in the case of Ozdemir, that Turkish security activities against the PKK are legitimate national security measures that are ethnic-neutral. Ozdemir, who was arrested during an anti-PKK raid and released after stiff interrogation, was denied refugee status in the U.S., because it was not his Kurdish identity that caused his arrest, but that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time during a legitimate counter-terror operation. Ozdemir did not appeal. ATAA commends the 5th Circuit for its stand against terror.

The ATAA believes strongly that there is no place for terrorism in a world so abundant in alternative ways of addressing issues. And, there is no place for the PKK, which utilizes Kurdish nationalism as a cover for its crime syndicate.

The ATAA remembers those who have given their lives to fight terror, and sends its deepest respects to their families.

The ATAA thanks the more than 150 writers in ATAA's www.MediaWatchNow.com who work tirelessly to counter terrorist propaganda in the media and make sure that the media does not become a tool of terror.

The ATAA urges all Turkish Americans and friends of Türkiye to write to the media regarding this matter and to inform the unsuspecting public about PKK terrorism.

Respectfully,

Gunay Evinch
President
Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA)

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