|
Cyprus: Kurdish man jumps from Turkish
bastion shouting 'Freedom for Ocalan'
13.8.2007
|
|
|
|
August 13, 2007
Cyprus, -- A Kurdish man on Sunday
hospitalised after jumping from the Turkish held
Roccas bastion onto barbed wire at the CyTA
roundabout in Nicosia.
The man, believed to be a Kurd in his 50s, cut his
face and hands.
Eyewitnesses saw him bloodied, shouting “Freedom for
Ocalan” and making the V for victory sign with his
hand. He also asked for a cigarette as police tried
to extricate him from the barbed wire.
The man was rushed to Nicosia general hospital,
where he received treatment for his injuries.
A doctor on duty there told the Mail the man did not
appear to be intoxicated but was clearly in a “very
emotional and disheveled state”.
The injuries were not serious, the doctor added.
Ocalan* a Kurdish leader of PKK organization, from
1984 the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey. More
than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed.
Since his arrest in 1999, Ocalan has campaigned for
a peaceful solution to the Kurdish conflict inside
the borders of Turkey.
cyprus-mail com
*
More about Ocalan
**
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.
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
|
® 