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German court hands Kurdish PKK militant
2-year jail term
16.1.2007 |
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BERLIN, Germany,
January 16, -- A German court said it had on Tuesday
sentenced a 52-year-old Kurdish-Turkish citizens man
for being a leader of the banned militant separatist
group the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to two years
and three months in jail.
The court in Frankfurt said Hasan K., originally
from Nizip, Turkey, was in 1993-1994 a leading
member of the PKK, which took up arms against the
Turkish state in 1984 with the aim of creating an
ethnic Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey.
More than 30,000 Turkish soldiers and PKK guerrillas
have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up
arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey
The court said that in 1993 and 1994 the accused
helped to plan and co-ordinate a string of concerted
attacks on a range of Turkish establishments in
Germany under the alias "Kemal". These included
consulates, banks and travel agencies.
During the period in question, the man led the PKK's
activities in northwest Germany, in the region
comprising the cities of Hamburg, Bremen and Kiel,
the court said.
However, the court said that due to the 10-year
statute of limitations, the man could not be
prosecuted for the attacks.
Turkey, the European Union and the United States
regard the PKK as a terrorist organisation.
The man, who was arrested in Vienna in January 2006
and extradited to Germany, denied the charges but
was convicted on the strength of testimony of
several witnesses, the court said.
Separately, state prosecutors in Karlsruhe said on
Tuesday they had in December charged two Turkish
citizens of Kurdish origin on suspicion of being
senior PKK members.
Prosecutors said they suspected 38-year-old Riza E.
from Duisburg had directed PKK activities in central
Germany under the alias "Cafer" between August 2004
and March 2006.
They added that 51-year-old Muzaffer A. from
Stuttgart was believed to have been in charge of the
PKK for the sector "south" between July 2005 and
August of last year.
The two men have been in detention since August
2006.
More than 2 million of Germany's 82.5 million
population are either Turkish citizens or of Turkish
origin.
Reuters
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"
Southeast Turkey. The Kurds have no rights in
Turkey.
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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