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20 fined in Turkey for using wrong letters
25.10.2005
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A Turkish court has
fined 20 people for using the letters Q and W on
placards at a Kurdish New year celebration, under a
law that bans use of characters not in the Turkish
alphabet, rights campaigners told.
The court in the southeastern city of Siirt fined
each of the 20 people $75.53 for holding up the
placards, written in Kurdish, at the event last
year. The letters Q and W do not exist in the
Turkish alphabet.
Under pressure from the European Union, Turkey has
improved language and human rights for its Kurdish
minority, but the EU says implementation has been
patchy and loopholes remain.
The 1928 Law on the Adoption and Application of
Turkish Letters changed the Turkish alphabet from
the Arabic script to a modified Latin script and
required all signs, advertising, newspapers and
official documents to only use Turkish letters.
More than 30,000 people have been killed, most of
them Kurds, since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
rebels began an armed campaign for Kurdish self-rule
in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey, Reuters
reports.
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