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Kurds risk jail in Turkey in language row
31.7.2007 |
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July
31, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkish prosecutors are seeking
jail terms of up to three years for two Kurdish
mayors and 17 aldermen who introduce Kurdish and
other languages in office, court officials said
Monday.
According to the constitution, Turkish is the sole
official language and no other languages can be used
in government offices and municipalities.
The accused include Osman Baydemir, one of Turkey's
most popular Kurdish politicians and the mayor of
Diyarbakir, the main city in the Kurdish-majority
southeast.
The other politician charged is Abdullah Demirbas,
who was removed last month from his post as mayor of
Sur, Diyarbakir's multi-ethnic old town, after the
city council in January allowed the use of Kurdish,
Armenian, Arabic, Assyriac and English in municipal
services. |
Osman Baydemir, one of Turkey's most popular Kurdish
politicians and the mayor of Diyarbakir, the main
city in the Kurdish-majority southeast of Turkey. |
The charge sheet accused the defendants of "abuse of
office" and sought prison sentences ranging from one
to three years.
The trial of Baydemir, Demirbas and the 17 city
councilmen who voted for the municipal bill is
scheduled to begin on November 7.
Diyarbakir's governor, Ankara's top representative
in the area, has asked a district court to scrap the
multi-lingual service.
Anakara has in recent years -- under European Union
pressure to improve its human rights record --
legalised broadcasts in Kurdish and allowed private
institutions to teach the Kurdish language.
The law, however, still requires Kurds to use solely
Turkish, the only official language, in official
communications and politics.
Kurdish activists insists that Kurdish should be
taught in schools and used in all spheres of public
life.
Ankara fears that broader Kurdish cultural freedoms
may embolden the armed separatist campaign of
Kurdish rebels fighting the central government since
1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000
lives.
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.
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 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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