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Leyla
Zana: The Kurds have three leaders, Talabani, Barzani, Ocalan
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: Turkish Sabah | AP | Agencies |
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Leyla Zana:
22.3.2007 |
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March 22, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- As Newroz (The Kurdish new year festival)
went by without any negative events; Leyla Zana
mentioned Öcalan as 'president' during her speech in
Diyarbakir.
Leyla Zana first spoke in Kurdish, she said: "The
Kurds have three leaders. One is the Iraqi president
Talabani. The other is Barzani and the third is
president Öcalan." Then she spoke in Turkish: "Kurds
will not hit the people they are living with
together from behind." * Barzani is the President
of Kurdistan autonomous region (Iraq).
Abdullah Öcalan shadows the festival
The Newroz celebration organized by DTP was overall
peaceful. Zana's words "we have three leaders:
Barzani, Talabani, and Öcalan" marked the meeting in
Diyarbakir.
Newroz went by without any negative events
throughout the country, however Abdullah Öcalan and
the PKK overshadowed the celebrations organized by
DTP (Democratic Society Party). Despite all of the
measures taken, the participants in the meetings
unravelled Öcalan posters and PKK flags. |
Turkey's outspoken Kurdish rights advocate Leyla
Zana, Former Kurdish MP in Turkey
Zana spent a decade behind bars in Turkey for
speaking Kurdish in the Turkish Parliament after
taking her parliamentary oath. She was the first
Kurdish woman to be elected to Turkey's parliament |
A conflict between security forces and the
demonstrators was prevented before growing too
large. Throughout the nation 257 people were taken
into custody. In Istanbul 80 people were taken into
custody, in Diyarbakir, 32 people were taken into
custody, 39 in Sanliurfa, and 34 in Izmir, to name a
few.
Leyla Zana mentioned Öcalan as the Kurds president
during her speech in Diyarbakir. Leyla Zana first
spoke in Kurdish: "The Kurds have three leaders. One
is the Iraqi President Talabani. The other is
Barzani and the third is president Öcalan." Then she
spoke in Turkish: "Kurds will not hit the people
they are living with together from behind."
Zana and her colleagues were first sentenced to 15
years in jail in 1994 for membership of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has been
fighting a 22-year bloody campaign for Kurdish
self-rule in the country's southeast.
Zana spent a decade behind bars in Turkey for
alleged links with Kurdish armed rebels
Zana, the first Kurdish woman to be elected to
Turkey's parliament, , who was imprisoned for
speaking Kurdish in the Turkish Parliament after
taking her parliamentary oath and for her political
actions which were considered against the unity of
Turkey.
She was awarded the 1995 Sakharov Prize by the
European Parliament, but was unable to collect it
until her release in 2004.
In March 2003, Zana and her co-defendants were
allowed a retrial after their original conviction
was condemned as unfair by the European Court of
Human Rights in 2001.
sabah com.tr | AP | Agencies
** More
about Kurdish Activist Leyla Zana
** 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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