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Turkey: No contact with Kurdish party DTP
unless it brands the PKK as a terrorist organization
1.9.2007 |
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September 1, 2007
ANKARA, -- There would be no contact between
the army and Democratic Society Party (the only
Kurdish party in Turkey) unless it brands the PKK as
a terrorist organization, said commander of Turkish
land forces General Elcar Bashbaugh in press
statements on Friday.
He was responding to criticism by the Kurdish party
directed at the army calling it "cessationist" for
apparently not having invited that party to the
military celebration of Victory Day.
"They i.e. the party refuse to brand the PKK as a
terrorist organization, yet they take liberty to
accuse us with discrimination against them," said
the general, adding that "... we cannot deal with
them since they may at any time be a party to the
death of one of our soldiers. They do not come
across as friends of the army."
Head of the Democratic Society Party Ahmet Turk
yesterday had complained against his party's
exclusion from Victory Day celebrations as he
emphasized that the party was represented in the
parliament by the will of the people.
No exclusion from any celebration should occur to a
party with elected representatives in the
parliament, he underlined.
On principle, the Democratic Society Party insists
on not stigmatizing the PKK as a terrorist
organization, which prompts the
army to consider the former a political extension of
the latter.
The Democratic Society Party ( in Turkish:
Demokratik Toplum Partisi - DTP) is a pro-Kurdish
left wing political party in Turkey, considered as
the successor to the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP).
DTP is the first Turkish party to have collective
leadership, it is co-presided by Aysel Tuluk and
Ahmet Turk.
The party was founded in 2005, as the merger of the
DEHAP and the Democratic Society Movement.
Since 1984 the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey. Turkey
is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds.
The United States and European Union call PKK a
'terrorist' organization.
kuna net.kw
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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
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