|
Turkish court denies immunity to Kurdish
MP on sedition charge
12.10.2007 |
|
|
|
October
12, 2007
ISTANBUL, Turkey, -- A Turkish court ruled
Thursday that a Kurdish lawmaker accused of
belonging to a rebel PKK group had no right to claim
the judicial immunity extended to elected MPs, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
Sebahat Tuncel went on trial last year, but was
released from
custody after being elected to parliament from her
prison cell in July elections.
In Thursday's ruling however, the judge determined
that the charges against Tuncel fell under the scope
of crimes against the state that are exempt from
judicial privilege.
Noting that the charges were brought before her
election, the judge said her trial should go ahead.
Tuncel, 32, is accused of belonging to the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist
group by Ankara and has waged a 23-year campaign for
Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey.
The indictment says that in June 2004 Tuncel
participated in a PKK meeting in neighbouring
northern Iraq, where the rebels have long taken
refuge, and was arrested while attending a PKK
gathering in Istanbul in November 2006. |
Newly elected pro-Kurdish lawmaker Sebahat Tuncel is
greeted by her supporters after she was released
from a prison in Gebze, near Istanbul, western
Turkey, Tuesday July 24, 2007. Sebahat Tuncel, who
won a seat in Sundays general elections, was in
prison awaiting trial on accusations of membership
in the outlawed separatist Kurdish rebel group,
Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. Turkish legislators
have legal immunity and Tuncel was released after
the election authorities confirmed the poll results.
AP |
She risks up to 15 years
in jail if convicted.
Tuncel is among 20 members of the Democratic Society
Party (DTP), Turkey's main legal Kurdish movement,
who won parliamentary seats in the July 22 polls.
Kurdish politicians in Turkey are routinely
suspected of being PKK tools and often persecuted
for aiding the rebels.
Some of them have been openly sympathetic with the
rebels and praised their jailed leader Abdullah
Ocalan.
AFP
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
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.
Others estimate over 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.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 