IRAN MURDERS TURKMEN FISHERMEN BRUTALLY

The murderers of the Turkmens should be tried at international tribunals…

The Islamic Republic of Iran has banned Turkmens to fish at the Caspian Sea coast of Turkmen Sahra, the fatherland of them. Iran allows three establishments for fishing, which have the qualifications of Administrative Organization, Cooperative and Private Partnership. Except these three groups, any kind of fishing activity at the Caspian Sea is forbidden. The Fishing Company in the Golistan province introduced conditions not to include majority of the Turkmen fishermen in these three groups. Thus, the Iranian Administration and the Fishing Company have banned the Turkmen fishermen to fish at the Caspian Sea. The Fishing Company claims that this region is the border area between Iran and Turkmenistan and that some measures have to be taken. With the excuse to fight against fishing without permission, the Resource Protection Department, subordinate to that company, imposes arbitrary sanctions in order to suppress and annihilate the Turkmen fishermen. Within this framework, the Turkmen fishermen are murdered in Iran in the most brutal way. But there is nobody either within the country or in the international public opinion to listen to their screams and stop these murders.

The Turkmens who inhabit at the coast and constitute the majority of the Iranian Turkmens cannot sufficiently benefit from the agricultural facilities due to the fact that the land at the Caspian Sea coastline of Turkmen Sahra is salty. Also the uneven land structure of the region constitutes a preventive element for farming. While Iran exports million dollars of caviar every year, it has not constructed any industrial infrastructure on the ground that merely Turkmen live there. The fact that not any fish preserves industry or plants currently exist in the regions where Turkmen live is a proof of the situation. Although over two million Turkmen live in that region, not employing any Turkmens, who are the main elements of this region, in any rank of the General Directorate of the Resource Protection of the Fishing Anonym Company clarifies the issue.

The rightful requests of the Turkmens living in the region to be benefited from in the management of hunting, fishing and other works are turned down on the ground that it would damage the national security. In Iran, Turkmens do not enjoy the equal rights of citizenship and the discrimination in color, race, language, religion and culture causes Turkmens not be recognized as even third class citizens. Protesting and boycotting this case or editing and publishing the issue as news are regarded as an initiative against the national security, as creating disorder and disturbing the public peace. Upon these reasons, the protestors are subjected to torture and deprived of all social rights by the state.

In Iranian religion, legislation and culture, there is a media prepared for ethnic contempt. Ethnic identity is viewed as a blow to the Persian culture and identity. The Iranian point of view disfavors the participations of the ethnic groups in the state affairs, because all groups who are not Persian are perceived as a threat for the country.

The fact that thousands of Turkmen families across the Turkmen Sahra, particularly in the towns and villages at the coast of the Caspian Sea, are unemployed and do not have social security leads many youngsters to go fishing without permission to live on at the cost of their lives, venturing the risk of storm and waves at the sea.

Apart from the danger of storm, despite the risk of being killed by the Sea Guard Officials or by the Turkmenistan Patrol Forces who are their relatives, the unemployed youngsters go deep into the sea with their small wooden boats and breast all these dangers to survive. The main reason of accepting the dangers is the fact that the regional population along the Caspian Sea coast is unemployed and poor. Today, over 50% of the population there is unemployed.

What means do a youngster who is unemployed, does not have any capital and has to afford the livelihood of his family have other than dropping his net into sea?

What can a youngster who has come to the age of working in the cities such as Bandar-e-Turkman and Gomishan do if there is not a production sector in the places he inhabits? I wonder if esteemed authorities have prepared a legal atmosphere in which these people constituting the potential ready to work can work in the field they are able to work. Has the provincial and state authorities made some rehabilitations in the administrative structure and undertaken a study to eliminate the employment impediments and the discriminations relating the Turkmen citizens and will prepare an employment atmosphere for them? Why should the Fishing Company, which is to benefit from the caviar and fish potential as the natural capital of the region, be of help to the population of Turkmen Sahara. I wonder if the General Directorate of Fishing can establish a plant and production industry with some of the revenue obtained from the sell of caviare, where the unemployed youngsters in the region can work.

Not any Iranian authority ranging from the lowest rank in the Province to the Minister of the Internal Affairs, the Minister of Intelligence and the Supreme Council of National Security has taken any steps to find a solution to the problems of Turkmen fishermen and to prevent them from being murdered. Despite particularly the opposition petition given by the deputy representing the Turkmen population in the Iranian Parliament and his warnings he made from the Assembly rostrum, not any solution has been reached yet.

According to the official data, approximately 100 million Dollars of caviar and caviar fish are exported from the region every year. As the revenue Iran obtains from caviar export rises, the unemployment rate among the Turkmen youngsters also rises. The more the prices of caviar go up, the poorer the Turkmen people get, and the youngsters of these regions are forced to do fishing illegally in order to afford their livelihood. The State obtains high amount of revenue from the products of the Turkmen fishermen each year but does not take any steps to better their life standards. Famous for its cruelty, the Sea Guard Force opens fire on the fishermen in order to intimidate them and prevent them from putting out to the sea.

To prevent the fishing of caviar and caviar fish, the Iranian administration has assigned full authority to the Security Forces and the Resources Protection Department to kill the Turkmen fishermen and youngsters who take the risk of illegal fishing due the unemployment, economic difficulties and the struggle to make a living.

The Turkmen objections have not been covered in the local press so far and their complaints have not provided any results. It is true that illegal fishing is a crime. But the punishment for this is not opening fire on the criminal or executing him. Human security is more important than anything. The real criminals are those who pick up arms and open fire on their own people because of minor legal violations. It is necessary to start an investigation within the framework of the national laws and international legal procedures on these individuals and to judge them in an impartial court.

Most of the Turkmen young people, who have no other means of earning their lives other than fishery, are being the targets of the bullets fired by the Iranian Coastal Defense guards and of the brother Turkmen guards on the Iranian-Turkmenistan border. Some guards even invented a new inhumane method like murdering the Turkmen fishermen. Instead of firing at the Turkmen fishermen, the guards drive over them with motor-driven boats, the propeller of the boat runs into the flesh of the fishermen and the blood and pieces of their organs color the sea. Lots of people died in the same way while hunting in the Chapoqli district, 3km away from Bandar-e-Turkman. Such incidents escalated during the last few years.

Below are a few examples of the merciless massacres and murders of the Department of the Protection of Resources of the Golistan Province Fishery Company:

1. Halim Goli Vatan Purkem, a young Turkmen fisherman, who is the son of Ay Muhammed and Golna Merendi Mirkale, whom both are the residents of the Gomishan- Qallapost village, was killed in a running fire on March 16, 2005 by Ali Asgar Bezrefshan, a resident of Azadshehr and who was on duty at the Gomishan Hunting Unit.

2. Baba Persem of the Chapoqli village was wounded with a gun by the Iranian guards and later killed by being run over with a patrol speed boat. His son Basim Persem became the target of the bullets fired by brother Turkmen guards while fishing on the Iranian-Turkmenistan border of the Caspian Sea. Young fisherman Basim Persem was hunted on the night of the Ramadan festival while he himself was hunting fish in order to be able to buy dresses for himself and his family for the religious festival and left his relatives mourning on the day of the festivities.

3. While Celil Kör was putting out to sea for hunting, he was subject to the running fire of the Iranian Security Forces near the coast and was killed by the bullets, which poured down like rain on him. The Turkmen young people, who were on the shore during the incident, witnessed how he was fired at by the Coastal Guards. Forensic doctors filled out a death report without making any autopsy on Celil Kör’s body and the body was kept in the morgue for four days. Later it was announced that the body could not be handed over to his family without the payment of “bullet money”. Thereupon his father Araz Goli, being extremely poor, paid the Iranian state an amount of money that he had provided for the wedding of his son and took over his body. The Fishery Administration did not regret having killed the young fisher Celil Kör, did not apologize from his family and did not convey its condolences. Instead it stated that this Turkmen young man deserved to die as he went fishing without any permission. After a while, the brother of Celil Kör went fishing in the open sea together with other fishermen. Security forces opened fire on them and Celil Kör’s brother was wounded on his foot and other fishermen were wounded as well. His friends who saw this brutality did not find the opportunity to object and to oppose and all they could do was to take care of the wounded.

4. On the eve of the 27^th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen national poet Makhtum Ghouli Piragi, a young man from the Kamishli village in the Gomishan area was brutally killed by the coastal guard security forces and another young man was heavily wounded. This incident also took place in the press. The blood of these young men dissolved in the waters of the Caspian Sea, where there ancestors independently hunted.

5. In the area around Gomishan four young Turkmen fishers together with the son of Masad Haji (local doctor) were caught by the Fishery Resources Guard Forces; their hands and feet were tied up after which they were thrown into the sea where they drowned. The bodies of these beloved young men taken out of the sea by other Turkmen fishermen and they were handed over to the authorities for the necessary legal procedures. The bodies were transferred to the Gorgan 5 Azar Hospital for autopsy. Extraordinary measures were taken around the hospital by controlling with armed special units all the doors of the hospital to avoid protest acts by the furious Turkmen and the sorrowful families of the young men.

6. A speed boat belonging to the coastal guard ran over the 17-year-old son of Agur Akhun as a result of which his body was torn into pieces. Then 20 shots were fired on his dead body.

7. Security forces opened fire on a van going from Gomishan to Chapoqli carrying Turkmen fishermen, who returned from their daily hunting and consequently three people died and 15 were wounded.

With regard to the murder of Halim Huli Vatan Purkem; his family wrote a letter of complaint addressing Head of the Iranian Judiciary Ayetullah Sahrudi and Bandar-e-Turkman Deputy Dr. Iri in which they stated the following:

“On March 16, 2005 and incident happened northwards of Gomishan around the observation unit. Among the armed forces that were in this observation unit was an individual named Ali Asger Bezrefshan. He violated the law on using weapons as well as the rules on the use of weapons. Halim Vatan Purkem (22) was killed and left behind a family in misery. His only purpose was to bring to his home some bread to feed his family and to make a living. He could not find any other job where he could work with dignity. He had to face all the difficulties and dangers of working in the stormy sea and there was killed by running fire. The Regulation on the use of weapons does not give the authority to armed forces to open fire on a person, who passes areas that are not forbidden or to kill people who are not involved in smuggling or unauthorized hunting, or does it? Here excuse exceeds the guilt. I wonder whether the lives of fish in seas are more important than the lives of our children that people who go fishing are kept under volley fire as if it is the same thing with homicide or narcotics trafficking? I wonder if the life of a miserable person living in border-coastal area is more valuable than the life of a fish that he is murdered so easily? Now that it is time to execute the law which prohibits illegal fishing, isn’t it time to fulfill the constitutional obligation for providing jobs for people who live on the border area and in Qallapost village in order to ensure that they work with self-dignity? Can’t it be possible that destitute people living in these villages have a minimum level of income which will prevent them from being obliged to lose their lives to feed themselves?

The deceased was the only head of the household. Therefore, we demand that this loss should be immediately satisfied by taking into consideration the above mentioned points. Sincerely. Hamid Ghouli Vatan Purkem – Golna Merendi Mirkale”

The richest area with regard to the variety of seafood and especially caviar fishes in Iran is Turkmen Sahra coasts. The most important ones among these places are Turkmens’ big seaport and coastal cities Bandar-e-Turkman, Gomishan, Khajeh-Nafas, Chapoqli, Kamishli and Makhdum Ghouli and also Ashuradeh, the only island on the Caspian Sea that has wonderful features.

Bandar-e- Turkman is the only coastal town of Golistan Province and it shares borders with Turkmenistan Republic on the north, Aq Qala and Gonbad Kavoos towns on the east, Caspian Sea on the west and Qurdkoy town on the south.

According to 2003 data of the Organization for Management and Programming of Golistan Province, the population of Bandar-e-Turkman and Gomishan is 124,433. The restraining of the activities of Fishing Company in caviar and fishing dealt blows to suffering Turkmen fishermen that are impossible to compensate. Today, caviar and caviar fishes are more precious than the lives of faulty fishermen.

Fishing for caviar fishes start in September 1^st every year and it continues till June 1^st, for a nine months period. Fishing for caviar fishes is prohibited for 3 months between June 1^st and September 1^st.

Fishing for caviar fishes are performed by 5 Caviar Fish Business Centers within the framework of administrative bodies, cooperatives and private partnership between Makhdum Ghouli Police Station and the west shore of Mayan Qala Peninsula, in an area of about 100 square kilometers in the waters between Iran and Turkmenistan, that is 11 % of the total shores of Iran on the Caspian Sea, with standard gillnets.

Being main customers of Iran’s Caspian Sea caviars, France, Germany, Sweden, Japan, the USA (illegally) are the primary customers, Spain, Luxemburg, Britain, Italy and Belgium are the secondary customers. In general, 80 % of Iran’s caviar is supplied to Europe and the rest is supplied to other parts of the world.

Caviar Production Center is subordinate to Fishing Center. Until the early 2005, the Fishing Company paid the salaries of all company workers from revolving fund. However, since March 21^st, 2005, the Division for the Utilization of Caviar Fishes was taken away from the Fishing Company and included in the structure of the State Main Expertise Company.

The right for making use of and evaluating caviar fish reserves in Iran’s territorial waters in the Caspian Sea is owned by the Iran Fishing Company. Golistan Province Fishing Inc. Company has a section called Division for the Protection of Sources. This division consists of the Operations Section and the Administrative Section. The commander of the Operations Section is a military officer from the Security Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Commander is subordinate to the Director General of Fishing of Golistan Province and he also makes coordination with the Administration for the Protection of Sources of Tehran. All personnel of the Operations Section consist of the personnel of the Fishing Company. This Section is responsible for executive works, maritime patrol and protection of reserves. The Administrative Section carries out support services, controls units and supervises the efforts for struggling illegal fishing, illegal construction works and illegal rigging. As for the vehicles used, the Division for the Protection of Sources uses motor boats with an engine power of 200 HP with Mini Golf type trunk and boats with an engine power of 2x200 HP with Golf type trunks.

When examining the ways of following the issue of development in Turkmen Sahra coastal regions and the inhumane treatment against Turkmen fishermen by the Coast Guards, it will also be useful to know about the Caspian Sea Coastal Areas Public Works and Development Coordination Committee, one of the bodies that can deal with these problems on national and state level.

Based on the Article 48 of the 3^rd Economic, Social and Cultural Development Program and on the joint proposal by the State Organization for Management and Programming and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, The Council of Ministers, approved the establishment of Caspian Sea Coastal Areas Public Works and Development Coordination Committee in its session on November 3^rd, 2002, in order to ensure coordination for the development and improvement of Caspian Sea coasts and to encourage people for the development of this region. According to this resolution, the coastal areas of the Caspian Sea include Guilan, Mazandaran and Golistan Provinces. The Committee consist of First Deputy of President (Committee Chairman), Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Industry and Mines, Minister of Oil, Minister of Housing and Urbanization, Minister of Transportation, Fully Authorized Representative of Supreme Authority Religious Leadership, Representative of State Organization for Management and Programming, a person to be selected from among parliamentary representatives in Islamic Shura Assembly of Regional Provinces (as an observant) and Representative of Regional Islamic Shuras. The secretary of the Committee is elected with the proposal of members and approval of Committee Chairman. The Secretariat of the Committee has to be in one of the cities of the Province or in central Province of Mazandaran. Directors of executive bodies in regional provinces are invited to meetings but they do not have right to cast vote.

The Caspian Sea Coastal Areas Public Works and Development Coordination Committee is one of the organs which is not known by many parliamentary representatives and active politicians. People of Turkmen Sahra are not even aware of the existence of such a committee.

These inhumane treatments towards Turkmen fishermen should be ended immediately, guilty persons should be prosecuted at international courts. Otherwise, this savagery in Turkmen Sahra will cost the lives of more Turkmen youth. We urgently call the United Nations and international organizations on duty for giving end to murders.