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Police Raid Pro-Kurdish Party Offices in
Turkey
19.4.2006
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ANKARA, 19 April
2006 - A pro-Kurdish party said yesterday that
Turkish security forces have raided several of its
offices and detained dozens of its members over the
past few weeks.
The reported raids and detentions follow some of the
most violent clashes in decades between Turkish
security forces and Kurdish protesters, which left
13 civilians dead. Four other people were killed in
attacks in Istanbul claimed by a militant Kurdish
group.
The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party said
several of its offices had been raided and some 50
party members, including five provincial leaders and
nine local leaders had been detained. The party said
the detentions were the result of accusations
leveled by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
against the party.
Erdogan recently called on the party to denounce
violence by the autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels of
the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK, which is
considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the
United States and the European Union. Leaders of the
Democratic Society Party have refused call PKK rebel
violence terrorism, leaving the group open to
accusations that it sympathizes with the rebels.
Most of the mayors in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish
southeast are members of the Democratic Society
Party.
Osman Baydemir, the mayor of the southeastern city
of Diyarbakir (Kurdistan-Turkey), and other
officials have been accused of encouraging the
rioters. Baydemir is a member of the Democratic
Society Party. At the height of the clashes in
March, Baydemir reportedly kissed a masked rioter on
the cheek and told another group of rioters: “I
congratulate you because of your courage.” The
Interior Ministry and prosecutors are investigating
whether Baydemir violated Turkish law.
Turkish courts in the past have closed several legal
Kurdish parties for links to the PKK. Some 37,000
people have been killed since the PKK took up arms
in 1984.
Police fired shots in the air yesterday to disperse
protesters staging a demonstration outside
Parliament to denounce International Monetary
Fund-requested reforms to Turkey’s ailing social
security system, reports said.
Parliament was preparing to debate changes to the
system when a group of some 2,000 protesters, mostly
members of trade unions, marched toward parliament
in protest.
Turkish authorities do not allow demonstrations
outside Parliament and police clashed with
protesters who refused to leave, CNN-Turk television
reported. Police also fired shots in the air to
disperse the crowd, the report said.
The trade unions oppose reforms that would gradually
increase retirement age to 65 by 2036 and increase
the minimum amount of days employees are required to
have worked before retiring to 9,000 from the
current 7,000. Currently employees are able to
retire earlier than 65, as long as they have
fulfilled the required 7,000 days.
AP
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