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Germany hands over two Kurdish PKK
militants to Turkey
29.11.2007
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November 29, 2007
Ankara, -- Germany has extradited to Turkey
two separatist Kurdish PKK militants wanted for
deadly attacks on Turkish security forces, the
Turkish justice ministry said in a statement
Thursday.
Mehmet Esref Kizilay, handed over last week, is
accused of killing a policeman in 1991. Germany had
rejected a request for his extradition in 1998 on
the grounds that Turkey had the death penalty on its
books at the time. Kizilay charged with murdering
six Turkish police officers
The second militant, Mehmet Iltas, was wanted for
suspected involvement in two attacks in Bingol
province in 1991, one against a military post and
the other on a minibus in which eight were killed.
He was extradited in late September, the ministry
said.
Kızılay is alleged to have killed the Turkish police
officers in the southern town of Adana in 1998.
The Justice ministry described both men as members
of the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
listed as a 'terrorist' organisation by Turkey, the
European Union and the United States.
The two cases show that Ankara's efforts to seek the
extradition of wanted PKK militants "have begun to
yield results," the statement said.
Turkey has long accused European countries of
tolerating PKK activities on their soil and failing
to close down organisations affiliated to the group.
The Turkish ministry said Germany had handed over
Iltas, wanted for attacks on a police station and a
mini-bus in 1991 in which eight were killed, two
months ago. It did not say why it had not announced
the extradition earlier.
Today's Zaman reports that he originally went to
Germany to seek asylum.
His request was rejected by German authorities after
Ankara appealed to Berlin to arrest him. Although he
was first arrested and imprisoned in the German city
of Koblenz -- 60 kilometres south-east of Bonn -- he
was released three months later. Germany had first
detained Kizilay in 1998 but did not extradite him
because Turkey at that time still used the death
penalty.
He was arrested again on 2 January this year when
Turkey began to put more pressure on Germany.
The German ministry of justice ruled to extradite
Kızılay to Turkey and earlier this week hewas handed
over to by German authorities to Turkish police. He
was immediately taken to the south-eastern Kurdish
city of Diyarbakır to be interrogated. www.ekurd.net
The hand-over came amid intense international
lobbying by the Turkish government against the PKK
after a spate of recent attacks. Thousands of
Turkish troops remain stationed on the border of
Kurdistan, an autonomous region inside Iraq.
Ankara claims the PKK obtains much of its finances
through drug trafficking, people smuggling,
extortion and money laundering in Europe, where it
has an extensive network.
Some high-ranking diplomats said the current number
of alleged PKK members sought by Interpol totals
175.
Following the extradition of Kızılay, the Turkey has
launched a special effort to have the rest of the
PKK members extradited.
Many Kurds were granted political asylum in western
Europe, notably in the 1990s, when Ankara's
heavy-handed policies against the Kurdish minority
put its human rights record under the international
spotlight.
Faced with mounting PKK violence, Ankara has
threatened military action into neighbouring
northern Iraq to crack down on PKK bases there if
Baghdad and Washington fail to curb the rebels.
Since 1984 the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
AFP | Reuters | adnkronos com
**
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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