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Turkish policemen cleared in killings of Kurdish
father and son
19.4.2007 |
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April
19, 2007
ANKARA, -- A Turkish court on Wednesday
acquitted four policemen of the controversial
killing three years ago of a Kurdish boy and his
father in mainly Kurdish region of southeastern
Turkey, the Anatolia news agency said.
The acquittal came after the prosecution argued that
the defendants acted in self-defence in the November
2004 shooting of Ahmet Kaymaz and his 12-year-old
son, Ugur, outside their house in Kiziltepe, in
Mardin province.
The indictment originally called for up to six years
in prison for the four officers on the grounds that
their action went beyond the limits of self-defence.
Lawyers for the victim's relatives said they would
appeal the sentence.
Police said Kaymaz and his son were gunned down in
an operation against rebels from the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), but local activists
and neighbours said the two were unarmed civilians.
A parliamentary investigation in 2004 accused police
of "heavy negligence" and concluded that Kaymaz and
his son could have been captured unharmed.
The incident had created a furore in Turkey and the
trial was moved from Mardin to the western city of
Eskisehir for security reasons.
Turkish security forces have faced widespread
accusations of human rights abuses in their fight
against the PKK, which took up arms for self-rule in
the southeast in 1984 and is listed as a terrorist
group by Ankara and much of the international
community.
But the authorities have been reluctant to look into
such cases and convictions of security personnel for
torture or other abuses have been rare.
Cases of rights abuses are seen as a test for
Turkey's commitment to respect democratic norms in
its bid to join the European Union.
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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