|
Turkey: Kurdish DTP party refuses to
declare PKK 'terrorists' 10.9.2007 |
|
|
|
September 10, 2007
Batman, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- The Democratic Society Party (DTP) on
Sunday responded to a recent call from Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to publicly
acknowledge the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a
'terrorist' organization.
"Nobody should expect us to declare our brothers
terrorists. No Kurd would ever say that," said DTP
Istanbul deputy Sabahat Tuncel, speaking at a
ceremony to mark the opening of a new park named
after internationally renowned Turkish author Yaşar
Kemal in the southeastern province of Batman.
Tuncel stated that she and 21 of her friends were
representing the party in Parliament. “They said to
us, ‘Declare your sons terrorists and we will see
you in a different light.’ Nobody should expect this
from us. No Kurdish individual would ever accept
this. We like to live in this land with our own
differences. For the first time Kurds have such a
high rate of representation. The government party
should make good use of this opportunity.”
The DTP deputy expressed her belief that the party
had proven from its first day in Parliament that it
was cut out for being a main opposition party,
something she said was demonstrated in the speeches
given by DTP deputies during parliamentary talks on
the new government program.
"The Kurdish people have this time taken one of
their women out of jail and sent her to Parliament,"
remarked Tuncel, who was arrested on accusations of
PKK membership and awaiting trial before being
elected to Parliament, adding: “This is important
for Turkey’s democracy and politics. This is a
significant message. What is this message? From my
front the message that should be taken is that I
should struggle for a democratic and peaceful
solution to the Kurdish question and fight for
democracy and freedoms.” However she said this was a
message also sent to the state. “If we are sending a
woman being tried in the name of the PKK to
Parliament from jail, this means ‘solve the problem
in Parliament.”
Earlier in September,
the commander of Turkish land forces General Elcar
Bashbaugh in press statements said, 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.
"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."
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 like Turkey call PKK a
'terrorist' organization.
todayszaman com
**
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
|
® 