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Turkey: Investigating a Kurdish politician
accused of advocating autonomy for Kurds
22.7.2007
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July 22, 2007
ANKARA, -- A Turkish prosecutor said Saturday
he is investigating a former Kurdish lawmaker
accused of advocating autonomy
for Kurds in Turkey, a news
agency reported.
The investigation follows a complaint by police in
the eastern city of Igdir where Leyla Zana spoke at
a rally Friday in support of dozens of Kurdish
independent candidates running in Sunday's
legislative elections.
"It is time to divide Turkey into states,"
newspapers quoted her as telling the crowd. "Ankara:
Divide the country into states and establish the
state of Kurdistan."
Mustafa Kucuk, the chief prosecutor of Igdir, said
in a written statement carried by Anatolia news
agency that the investigation would determine
whether Zana violated laws on incitement and state
unity. |
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 |
Zana has already served a 10-year sentence for
collaborating with separatist Kurdish rebels
fighting the Ankara government.
In a television interview Saturday, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan harshly criticized Zana's
remarks and called for an investigation.
"These are very unfortunate remarks," he told the
Kanal 7 network. "No one can... make such a
provocation on the eve of the elections."
Turkey's unitary status is a highly charged issue
amid mounting violence by the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting a
bloody campaign since 1984 for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast.
Many oppose moves to clip the powers of the central
government out of fear that it could lead to a
break-up of the country.
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.
AFP | Agencies
** 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
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