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Kurdish singer on trial in Turkey for song praising
Kurdish leader
23.5.2007 |
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May
23, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey,-- A prosecutor on Tuesday
demanded that a Kurdish singer be sentenced to five
years in prison for performing a song that praises
imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, the
government-run Anatolia news agency reported.
Zulfu Kizildemir, also known as Xemgin Birhat, was
detained in March after performing his
Kurdish-language song "Mezin Apo," or "The Great Apo,"
at a spring festival traditionally used by Kurds to
assert separatist demands. Apo is short for
Abdullah.
In the opening trial on Tuesday, the prosecutor
asked that Kizildemir be sentenced to five years in
prison on charges of engaging in propaganda in favor
of Ocalan's banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
Kizildemir rejected the charges and said because he
had lived in Germany for the past 30 years, he was
not aware of Turkey's anti-terrorism laws, Anatolia
reported.
The trial was adjourned until a later date, the
agency said. Court officials were not immediately
available to confirm the report or give additional
information.
Ocalan is in isolation on a prison island in the Sea
of Marmara, near Istanbul. He led the insurgent
Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, until Turkish
agents captured him in 1999 in Kenya, where he was
seeking refuge.
He remains a symbol of Kurdish separatism and
several Kurdish politicians are being prosecuted for
allegedly praising him in recent speeches.
The politicians say they are victims of a campaign
against them ahead of general elections in July when
their Democratic Society Party seeks to circumvent
the 10 percent election barrier by fielding
independent candidates who would then regroup as a
party after winning seats.
The conflict between autonomy-seeking Kurdish
guerrillas and the government has claimed the lives
of tens of thousands of people since the guerrillas
took up arms in 1984.
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
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 over 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 over 25 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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