|
Kurdish party DTP withdraws from Turkish polls
23.5.2007 |
|
|
|
May
23, 2007
ANKARA,-- Turkey's main Kurdish party
yesterday formally notified electoral authorities
that it was withdrawing from early legislative
elections on July 22.
The Democratic Society Party (DTP) said in a letter
to the Electoral Board that it was pulling out in
protest against the 10 -per cent national threshold.
The rule "damages the principle of participation in
democracy and destroys just representation," it said
in a statement.
Many Kurds have become legislators in Turkey as
members of mainstream parties.
But pro-Kurdish movements have failed to overcome
the 10-percent bar to enter parliament, even though
they usually dominate the vote in the mainly Kurdish
southeast and routinely win local elections.
Earlier this month, the DTP said its candidates
would run as independents in the July elections in a
bid to bypass the threshold and win parliamentary
seats. Once in parliament, the deputies can again
regroup under the DTP banner.
But last week, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
approved a controversial bill, which was widely seen
as having been designed to foil this tactic. Under
the new law, the names of independent candidates
will appear on the same ballot as those of the
political parties, instead of on separate slips.
Since many voters are illiterate or do not speak
Turkish in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the
country, the measure is seen as a bid to make things
harder for voters in the region, which is the DTP's
traditional powerbase.
Under the new system, they are likely to have
trouble picking their candidate's name from the long
list of parties and other independents.
Kurdish politicians are routinely accused of being
instruments of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
More than 37,000 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.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and
much of the international community.
The DTP was set up in November 2005 as a successor
of other Kurdish political parties outlawed by the
courts on grounds of separatism. It has pledged to
try to resolve the Kurdish conflict through peaceful
means, but has so far made no progress.
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 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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 