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Turkey: Kurdish DTP says police raid its
office, detain seven
6.11.2006 |
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ANKARA, November
6 - Anti-terrorism police raided an Istanbul branch
office of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party
(DTP) on Sunday, detaining seven officials, the
party and news reports said.
The raid occurred during a morning meeting of the
DTP's branch office in the low-income Bagcilar
district, the party said in a statement.
The Anatolia news agency said police, acting on a
court search warrant, detained seven party officials
and confiscated a number of documents for
inspections. The agency gave no reason for the raid.
Authorities frequently accuse the party of having
links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
which is listed as a terrorist organization by the
United States and the European Union.
The party condemned the raid in a statement, saying
the crackdown was unlawful and a blow to its efforts
to find a peaceful end to the violence in
southeastern heavily Kurdish Anatolia region.
The PKK declared a unilateral cease-fire in late
September, following a surge of attacks against
troops, tourist sites and government targets, in the
hopes of dialogue with the government. The group has
said, however, that its members would defend
themselves.
Close to 60 mayors belonging to the party are on
trial accused of helping terrorists by arguing to
keep a Kurdish TV station on the air.
The mayors were indicted after writing a letter to
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen asking
him not to pull the plug on the Denmark-based Roj TV
station, despite claims by Turkey that it is a PKK
propaganda machine.
More than 37,000 lives have been lost in the Kurdish
insurrection which began in 1984 with Kurdish
demands for independence for the southeastern and
heavily Kurdish Anatolia region.
turkishdailynews com.tr
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan".
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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