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Turkey: DTP decides that new constitution
need not mention Kurds
23.9.2007 |
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September
23, 2007
ANKARA, -- Following a four-day meeting in
Side, Antalya, the pro-Kurdish DTP decided that the
new constitutional text should emphasize the rights
of all minority cultures, not just that of the
Kurdish people.
Notes that were understood to be from a meeting
between imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and
his lawyers were also taken in hand during the
meeting.
Mr. Öcalan reportedly suggested that the following
statement - ‘The Constitution of the Republic of
Turkey accepts that all cultures should be able to
express themselves and their existence in a
democratic way’ - would suffice, instead of any
reference to the Kurds in particular.
DTP members decided that the use of the term ‘all
cultures’ instead of ‘Kurds’ would be sufficient if
the proposals that came out of the DTP meeting were
taken into consideration while the new constitution
is being drafted.
The PKK was founded in the 1970s and is committed to
the creation of an independent Kurdish state in a
territory which it claims as Kurdistan.
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. Turkey is home to over
25 million ethnic Kurds.
Turkey, United States and the European Union, class
the PKK as a "terrorist organisation"
hurriyet com.tr
**
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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