Address at the Congress of Kurdish PEN, Berlin 2003

by International Secretary Terry Carlbom

Dear Hosts, dear Friends of PEN,

As we assemble today, the threat of war looms over the world. This threat touches materially on many people, and among those most affected are wide sections of the Kurdish peoples. Let me say, as far as this is possible, - I understand the anxieties, the worries and the intense feelings that must accompany your situation today; as Kurds, as individuals.

Your Congress today will be affected by these feelings. And this is why this World

Associa­tion of Writers, now in existence for more than 80 years, should feel an urge to remind our­selves of the role we, as Members of International PEN, have taken on ourselves in times like this.

I have just come back from a trip to southern Africa, which took me to three countries where International PEN was not as yet represented. Apart from South Africa, I visited Namibia, Botswana and Zambia. In all countries I got questions about this great Fellowship of Writers of ours. In all places, a clarification was called for about our Charter: who could become members, and why should anyone become a member?

And I replied that anyone who ‘bona fide’ was a writer or belonged to our general membership categories could become a member. But in doing so, no one was expected to carry a heavy rucksack of party political convictions with him or her. A PEN Centre must never become a tool for political purposes – our task is dialogue to promote literature, and to defend freedom to write.

And my unwavering message is this: keep committed political ambitions apart from membership; ours is a forum for discussion, and every PEN Centre must be a warden of everybody’s right to their own language, their own culture, and their own interpretation of what this identity means and implies. PEN is an international Circle of Solidarity in defense of the Creative Individual, wherever or whoever that person may be.

We demand loyalty to the Charter of the United Nations, to the Charter of UNESCO, and to the Charter of International PEN. Our Writers for Peace Board has only a short time ago written to Secr.General Kofi Annan, in support of his stance on the Iraqi crisis. In times of international stress, we shall be intent on upholding dialogue, and building bridges. Our task is to make a contribution to the very building of Civil Society in our world. It is this belief which gives International PEN the moral force it has in this troubled world of ours.

One of the reasons why I so happily come to Berlin is because I have so many Kurdish friends, in Sweden, in Europe. Some day, I hope to be able to travel freely in all areas of this world populated by the Kurdish people. If I am granted this possibility, I know that nothing would make me more happy than moving where pride in identity is also linked with tolerance and generosity in the interpretation of this identity. This is truly what makes up the inner qualities of this Fellowship of Writers around the world, which is manifested in International PEN – and each and everyone of its Centres.

Thank you for inviting me – and may I wish your Congress all success.

Terry Carlbom            International Secretary