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Turks and Kurds Must Prepare for 'Truth'

Orhan Kemal Cengiz calls for Truth Commissions to complement peace talks between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Kurdish demonstrators hold up pictures of the three Kurdish activists shot in Paris, as they wait for the ambulances carrying their bodies in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, January 16, 2013. The bodies of the activists, including that of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) co-founder Sakine Cansiz, arrived by plane on Wednesday evening in Diyarbakir ahead of a funeral ceremony on Thursday. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS OBITUARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

As a human rights defender, I was always quite sensitive to the Kurdish question. However, I had just begun to understand how tragic and and profound it was, when I started to work for the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) in London between 1997 and 1998. KHRP back then was taking cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on behalf of Kurdish victims.

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