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22 held in Kurdish new year clashes in
Turkey
19.3.2007
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March 19, 2007
ISTANBUL, -- Turkish police on Sunday held 22
people for questioning during a violent protest in
Istanbul organized several days before the Kurdish
new year, the Anatolia news agency reported.
More than 150 people carrying effigies of jailed
Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan gathered in the
European side of the city, before the crowd began
throwing stones at the police who encircled them,
Anatolia said.
Several police officers were slightly wounded in the
clashes, which are not unusual around Newroz, the
Kurdish new year celebrated on March 21. Turkish
Kurds often use the celebrations of Newroz to demand
their rights.
The festival is also often characterised by
demonstrations in support of the rebel Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK). In 1992, about 50 people were
killed in bloody confrontations between the banned
group and Turkish security forces.
AFP
** 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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