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LONDON, Sep 15, - A committed and vocal group of
British Kurdish protesters gathered in London’s
Belgrave Square to bring sham on German officials
while urging the German Government to take immediate
actions to lift its ban on the Kurdish newspaper and
Mesopotamia News Agency, (MHA) based in Germany,
which during this week’s police raids, led to
journalists, writers and other employees being
detained and searched, and computers and documents
seized.
The Kurdish community of London gathered outside the
German embassy in an act of condemnation of their
recent acts to suppress freedom of speech, which has
global ramifications for free speech, not only with
respect to the Kurdish issue.
The slogans of the Kurdish and human rights
activists, and their signs read “Shame on Germany”,
“Attack on Kurdish Press = Attack on Fundamental
Rights”, and “Don’t Sacrifice Democracy for Money”.
Ozgur Politika is one of the most widely read
Kurdish newspapers among the Kurds in the diaspora,
and also had a large print run in Kurdistan. The
paper was critical of the Turkish state and also
covered news about Kurds in other part of Kurdistan
and the situation of the Middle East generally.
For the Kurds of mainland Turkey, with no access to
independent newspapers or TV from Turkey, Ozgur
Politika and the MHA news website was a main source
of obtaining news about events in Kurdistan and
Europe.
Germany, which shut down Ozgur Politika at the
beginning of the week, has now also forbidden the
Mesopotamian News Agency (MHA). Meeting with Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday in Ankara, Volker
Ruhe, the president of Germany's Federal Foreign
Ministry Commission, said that the decision to
outlaw the publications would go into effect
immediately, according to German newspapers.
Germany on Monday banned the publishing of a Ozgur
Politika newspaper due to a belief that they have
links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party.
The E. Xani publishing company which is based in
Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt, has produced the
Turkish language newspaper Ozgur Politika for many
years which had a print run of 10,000 copies or
more.
German Government believes the paper is "the
mouthpiece" of the PKK, the group which last year
ended a five-year unilateral ceasefire.
The demonstration ended at 2 pm, following a vocal
rendition of the Kurdish national anthem.
www.dozame.org
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