Four of his friends, Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Dogan and Selim Sadak were tried in State Security court each receiving sentences of fifteen years in jail. Six others, anticipating arrests and lengthy prison terms, fled the country and sought refuge in Europe as political refugees. The remaining deputies simply resigned or changed parties lest they too be an address to a merciless bullet. RIP sign went up for the second Kurdish party on June 16, 1994. These Kurds and Turks believed in the democratic process but were silenced by the guns of assassins.
Violence begets more violence.
Some have retreated into cynicism. The claim that the institutions of civil society are robust in Turkey proper may be true but in Turkish Kurdistan they are definitely not working. Amnesty International recently undertook a worldwide campaign to highlight the abuses that are taking place in the country. The name of the United States government should have been on the list as well. Washington is the principal supplier of arms to Ankara.