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Turkey denies poisoning jailed Kurd,
Ocalan's lawyers face charges over poisoning claim
8.3.2007 |
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March 8, 2007
ISTANBUL, Turkey, -- The Turkish government
is investigating claims that Abdullah Ocalan, jailed
leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, is
being poisoned.
Ocalan's attorneys say hair samples show the
presence of high amounts of strontium and chromium
in his body, Turkey's Today's Zaman newspaper
reported.
While Justice Minister Cemil Cicek has dismissed the
accusation, he said the government has sent a team
of four doctors to the prison to examine Ocalan.
Retired Gen. Hursit Tolon told CNN Turk that
Ocalan's lawyers could not possibly have received
hair samples from the prisoner because any physical
contact -- even the shaking of hands -- is
forbidden. |
Jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. The only
prisoner on the Imrali Island in the Turkish Sea of
Marmara. photo from ROJ TV |
Ocalan's lawyers face charges over poisoning
claim
Lawyers representing outlaw Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan may face charges over
claims he was poisoned while under high-security
confinement on Imrali island.
The Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office
yesterday launched a probe into the two lawyers,
Mahmut Sakar and Irfan Dundar, over the allegations,
which they made at a press conference in Rome last
week.
The claim sparked a debate in Turkey between the
Justice Ministry and the pro-Kurdish Democratic
Society Party (DTP), with the latter calling on the
state to appoint an independent international
commission to conduct an examination. The Justice
Ministry sent a team of experts on Monday for this
purpose but the move failed to satisfy the party,
which further claimed that the state-ordered
commission could not trusted to do an objective
examination.
The chief public prosecutor's office said that the
investigation was launched into the two on charges
of abusing their position.
The poisoning allegation was late on Tuesday
dismissed by Hursit Tolon, a former military
commander who established the
security system at Imrali Prison.
He said that security precautions at the facility
make it impossible for Ocalan to be poisoned,
further claiming that the measures prevent any
materials from entering or exiting the prison
without permission.
Tolon said all physical contact with Ocalan was
prohibited, including shaking hands, and that his
lawyers were forced to sit across a broad table from
him in the presence of security personnel. He also
said that all of Ocalan's food was tested, that each
of his utensils was used only once and that soldiers
at the prison ate the same food he did.
More than 30,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for a Kurdish homeland in the country's
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
The United States and the European Union, like
Turkey, class the PKK as a "terrorist organisation"
UPI | thenewanatolian com
** 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 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.
Turkey is home to some 20 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
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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