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Turkish Prosecutors Investigate Erdogan
Reference to Kurdish Leader Ocalan
26.3.2007 |
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March 26, 2007
ANKARA, -- A Turkish prosecutor launched a
formal investigation Monday into Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan over allegations he praised
Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan seven years
ago, a report said.
The probe follows complaints filed by the main
opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and
several individuals that Erdogan referred to Ocalan
as "sayin" -- a word meaning esteemed or honorable,
but which also doubles for "mister" -- during a
radio interview in Australia in January 2000.
Erdogan has categorically rejected the allegations
which were first brought up by the CHP last week.
The prosecutor in charge of the probe will decide
whether there is need for a full judicial
investigation against Erdogan that could pave the
way for charges against him, the Anatolia news
agency reported. |
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan |
He would have to ask parliament for permission to
carry out such an investigation since Erdogan has
political immunity.
Under the Turkish penal code, praising a crime or
criminal offender is punishable by up to two years
in prison.
Several politicians from the country's main Kurdish
party have been indicted or jailed on these charges
for referring to Ocalan as "sayin".
Ocalan is the head of the Kurdistan Workers' Party,
which has fought for Kurdish self-rule in the
southeast since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed
more than 37,000 lives.
Considered by many Turks as the country's main
enemy, he has been serving a life sentence for
treason and separatism as the sole inmate on a
prison island since he was convicted in 1999.
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
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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