|
Turkish authorities distribute kebabs,
toys to keep Kurdish children in school on Ocalan
birthday
4.4.2007 |
|
|
|
April
4, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey, -- Turkish authorities
distributed toys and kebabs on Wednesday to keep
Kurdish children in school as demonstrators gathered
at the hometown of Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah
Ocalan to mark his 58th birthday.
"We distributed kebabs at high-schools and toys at
the primary school to prevent the manipulation of
the children," said Tuncay Sonel, governor of the
southeastern town of Birecik.
Hundreds of Kurds gathered in downtown Birecik to
travel to the nearby village of Omerli, where Ocalan
was born. Police and paramilitary forces increased
security in the area against possible violence.
Kurds traditionally shout slogans to praise Ocalan
on his birthday and carry his pictures.
Ocalan is serving a life sentence on a prison island
off Istanbul for leading a separatist war for
autonomy in Turkey's southeast.
More than 30,000 Turkish soldiers and PKK guerrillas
have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up
arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
AP
** 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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 