|
Young Kurd set himself ablaze for Kurdish
leader Abdullah Ocalan
9.11.2005
By Constantine Markides
|
|
|
|
A KURDISH protestor set
himself on fire yesterday morning outside the
European Commission office in Nicosia in protest of
the maltreatment and bad prison conditions of PKK
leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is being held in Turkey.
The 38-year-old Kurd was taking part in the protest
when he doused himself with gasoline and then lit
himself on fire. One witness told the Cyprus Mail
that the man then “shouted something about Ocalan
and Kurdistan and held his two fingers up in a
Victory sign”.
Several other Kurdish protestors as well as the
police immediately rushed at him and succeeded in
extinguishing the fire.
The man was then taken to the Nicosia General
Hospital, where he was treated for his burns.
According to statements by doctors, second-degree
burns, which are primarily on his back and hands,
cover 18 per cent of his body.
The man was then transferred to the Makarios
Hospital for treatment and surgery. While being
wheeled into the ambulance, the man weakly raised a
bandaged arm and made another V sign.
The Kurdish protestors, carrying placards with
pictures of Ocalan, came from all parts of Cyprus.
Ocalan is the leader of the Kurdish guerrilla group
PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), which in 1984
launched an armed struggle for an autonomous Kurdish
state in the south east of the country.
Turkish troops captured Ocalan in 1999, initially
sentencing him to death but then commuting his
sentence in 2002 to life in prison.
The Kurdish protestors submitted a petition asking
for a just trial for Ocalan and for him to have
access to his lawyers, while also charging Turkey
for human rights violations against the Kurds. In
the petition they also asked for changes in Turkey’s
correctional system.
Similar Kurdish demonstrations have been taking
place in other Europeans capitals as well as in
cities in Turkey.
In May of this year the European Court of Human
Rights ruled that Turkish authorities breached
international treaties by denying Ocalan the right
to a fair and independent trial and by preventing
his lawyer from contacting him.
Turkey has also been repeatedly condemned for its
treatment of Kurds by human rights organisations
such as Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch.
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk will be tried in
Turkish courts in December for “insulting and
weakening Turkish identity” after saying that one
million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in
Turkey.
Self-immolation is considered to be one of the most
powerful acts of sacrifice and is often used in
political protest as it draws tremendous media
attention. The photograph of the burning monk Thich
Quang Duc seated in a Saigon street in lotus
position with flames whirling off him is among the
most famous images from the Vietnam War.
www.cyprus-mail.com
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 