Netherlands: Extradition of Nuriye Kesbir
01 August 2004
Two weeks after 11 September 2001 Nuriye Kesbir arrived at Schiphol airport in Holland. She entered the Netherlands with a false passport and sought asylum. Kesbir was born in Turkey but lived in Germany throughout the 1980s; her family also live in Germany, as political refugees. A Kurd, in 1991 she joined the armed struggle of the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) in eastern Turkey. Her decision was based on the treatment of the Kurdish people and the position of Kurdish women. She became a member of the PKK's Central Committee from 1995 and in January 2000 she joined the Presidential Council, the highest governing body of the organisation.
Kesbir's membership of the PKK is not disputed, although it became a complicating factor during the legal process. What is disputed is whether or not she knew of, or took part in, a campaign which the PKK undertook from 1993 till 1995. In this period the organisation targeted village guards who were appointed by the Turkish government. The Turkish authorities accuse her of 25 attacks in which more then 150 people died during this period. She denies using arms, arguing that she was mainly active in improving the position of Kurdish women both within Turkish society and the Kurdish community. Furthermore she denied being in eastern Turkey between 1993 and 1995. She claims that she was in Haftani, Northern Iraq, fighting for equal rights for women.
Kesbir's asylum request of 25 September 2001 was rejected at the beginning of 2002 on the grounds that she was suspected of having collaborated in war crimes or crimes against humanity. This is the 1-F procedure, that is directed at those who seek asylum but are suspected of the above mentioned crimes. After the rejection Turkey immediately asked for her extradition. Kesbir appealed against the asylum decision and began a court case against the Turkish extradition request, fearing that she will not get a fair trial. There is also a chance that she will be tortured and jailed for the rest of her life. She points to the conditions of the imprisonment of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK who is incarcerated on an island in Turkey.
Kesbir's legal battle was not for nothing. Turkey stated that it would prosecute her for membership of a terrorist organisation, for which the maximum penalty is 10 to 15 years imprisonment. Although they accuse her of leadership of a terrorist organisation Turkey does not intend to prosecute her for that, probably because previously the death penalty was given and Holland would not extradite her if that was the case. The Amsterdam court asked the Turkish authorities to clarify why they had chosen that course. The court also asked the Turkish government for a guarantee that she would not appear before military court, that she would not be tortured and that she would not face the death penalty. The Turkish public prosecutor complicated the case by stating that even if the Justice department decides to prosecute her for membership of the PKK, the court could still sentence her for her leadership role. Theoretically, she could receive a life sentence.
In December 2002, when Kesbir had already been in prison for 14 months, a court ruled that the Netherlands was not allowed to extradite her because the Turkish authorities had not handed over sufficient evidence of the specific charges against her specifically, her role within the PKK. Another ground of the extradition request, Kesbir's membership of a terrorist organisation, is not a criminal act in Holland.
At the beginning of 2003 Kesbir was released, because the court did not see any pressing need for her imprisonment. After all, Holland had allowed the Kurdish Parliament on its territory and doesn't have a law concerning the prohibition of "terrorist" organisations. The Minister of Immigration Affairs at the time appealed against the decision of the court at the Council of State, which ruled that Kesbir should be imprisoned until her appeal. Kesbir<