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Turkish police break up Kurdish DTP party
rally
19.11.2007
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November 19, 2007
ANKARA, -- Police arrested 10 people in
eastern Turkey on Saturday as they broke up with
warning shots and tear gas a rally by a Kurdish DTP
party that authorities are trying to ban, media
reports said.
Police moved in on the 2,000-strong group in the
Kurdish city of Van when some demonstrators chanted
slogans in favour of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed
leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
separatist rebels, the NTV news channel reported.
The demonstration was organized by the country's
main Kurdish political movement, the Democratic
Society Party (DTP), which is accused by Ankara of
colluding with PKK rebels.
Prosecutors on Friday launched proceedings to ban
the DTP, saying that the party had become a "base
for activities which aim at the independence of the
state and its indivisible unity" through its links
with the PKK.
The DTP, which holds 20 seats in the 550-member
parliament, rejects charges of links with the
rebels. It has come under fire for refusing the
brand the PKK a terrorist group, as Ankara does, and
for voicing sympathy for the rebels.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984
when the PKK picked up arms for self-rule in
Turkey's mainly Kurdish east and southeast.
Last month, the Turkish government won parliamentary
authorization to order troops into northern Iraq if
necessary to strike at bases the PKK uses as a
springboard for attacks on Turkish targets. www.ekurd.net
Turkey has subsequently massed an estimated 100,000
troops and military equipment on the border with
Iraqi Kurdistan. The United States and Iraq are
opposed to any cross-border strike.
Iraqi Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using
Turkey's Kurdish separatist PKK rebel group as an
excuse to invade Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent
the establishment of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish
autonomous region in 'northern Iraq', Turkey fears
this could fan separatism among its own large
Kurdish population in southeast Turkey. www.ekurd.net
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
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