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Turkey: DTP's deputy Bengi Yildiz denies
recognizing PKK rebels as 'terrorist'
23.11.2007
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November 23, 2007
ANKARA, -- A deputy of the Pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Party (DTP) said on Thursday that
the Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
is a political organization, denying press reports
that he defined the PKK as a 'terrorist' entity.
“Our party has no such an approach and definition,”
the DTP's deputy from Batman, Bengi Yildiz, told
reporters.
Media had reported that Yildiz called the PKK
members 'terrorists' in a speech during a
parliamentary committee meeting late Wednesday. “I
just read a paragraph from a report prepared by some
nongovernmental organizations. It was just a quote
from the report,” he said.
The DTP is accused of having links with the PKK and
not calling the group a 'terror' organization.
“Unfortunately there is no consensus on the
definition of terrorism and terrorist in the world,”
he said. |
Bengi Yildiz, a deputy of the Pro-Kurdish Democratic
Society Party (DTP) in Turkey |
When asked how she defines the PKK Yildiz said, “it
is a political organization.” But Yildiz refused to
reply to a reporter's question on who is a terrorist
and said, “I am not in a position to make the
definition of terrorism. I am talking about my own
views on the PKK. You can make the definition of
other organizations by yourself.” www.ekurd.net
Co-Chairman of the committee Joost Lagendijk called
on the DTP to declare that it does not support the
strategy and actions of the outlawed PKK. His
remarks came during a meeting with Ahmet Türk,
parliamentary group leader of the DTP, in the
latter's office in Parliament. Türk said it was not
a good idea to close down a political party,
referring to the legal proceedings opened against
the DTP accused of having links with the PKK,
speaking to reporters after the meeting. He said the
PKK problem can be resolved using civilian and
democratic means. www.ekurd.net
Nearly 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since the PKK
launched its armed insurgency against the Turkish
state in 1984, for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
turkishdailynews com.tr
**
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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