|
Turkey's Kurdish politician Leyla Zana:
Time to divide Turkey into states
21.7.2007
|
|
|
|
July 21, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- In a controversial speech likely to spark
controversy, Leyla Zana, a former deputy for the
now-defunct pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP),
called for a new administrative system organized as
states.
Zana, who was jailed in the past for links to the
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), said at
an election rally in the far eastern province of
Igdir that a "Kurdistan federal state" should be
established as part of a shift from the current
centralized administration structure to a new one
based on states.
"It is time for division of Turkey into states.
Ankara, divide Turkey into states and establish the
Kurdistan state," Zana was quoted as telling a crowd
by the Anatolia news agency. She said this would be
tantamount to taking a step that Turkey failed to
take during the founding of the Turkish Republic in
1923. She said such a shift in the administrative
system would not mean "division of the country,"
claiming on the contrary that it would strengthen
unity and co-existence. |
Turkey's outspoken Kurdish rights advocate Leyla
Zana, Former Kurdish MP in Turkey
Zana spent a decade behind bars in Turkey for
speaking Kurdish in the Turkish Parliament after
taking her parliamentary oath. She was the first
Kurdish woman to be elected to Turkey's parliament |
The Kurdish politician, who is not standing in the
upcoming polls on July 22, said a planned
legislation on creating local administration centers
should be implemented to "allow people govern
themselves."
Claiming that Ankara failed to see what the Kurdish
population of Turkey wants, Zana said Kurds shifted
to a new policy that does not aim at cessation from
Turkey following capture of the PKK leader Abdullah
Öcalan. "They said redrawing borders is not
necessary anymore; peoples can live together in
peace provided that the governing class appreciate
this. We have tried to follow this policy for eight
years. What have you done? Nothing. You have taken
one step forward, followed by two steps back."
Zana also called for a general amnesty for the PKK,
considered a "terrorist" organization by Turkey, the
United States and the European Union.
The DTP, which is not standing in the upcoming
elections and supports independent candidates
instead as a way of overcoming the obstacle of a
10-percent election threshold, is frequently accused
of maintaining organic links with the PKK.
Leyla Zana and her colleagues were first sentenced
to 15 years in jail in 1994 for membership of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has
been fighting a 22-year bloody campaign for Kurdish
self-rule in the country's southeast.
Zana spent a 10 years behind bars in Turkey for
alleged links with Kurdish armed rebels, They were
released in June 2004.
Zana, the first Kurdish woman to be elected to
Turkey's parliament, , who was imprisoned for
speaking Kurdish in the Turkish Parliament after
taking her parliamentary oath and for her political
actions which were considered against the unity of
Turkey.
She was awarded the 1995 Sakharov Prize by the
European Parliament, but was unable to collect it
until her release in 2004.
In March 2003, Zana and her co-defendants were
allowed a retrial after their original conviction
was condemned as unfair by the European Court of
Human Rights in 2001.
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish 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.
todayszaman com
** More
about Kurdish Activist Leyla Zana
** 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.
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.
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 25 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
|
® 