|
Turkey releases four men held over
Diyarbakir car bomb
7.1.2008
|
|
|
|
January
7, 2008
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkish prosecutors released four
suspects Sunday who had been
held over last week's
deadly
car bomb attack
in the main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, justice
officials said.
The decision to release them was due to a lack of
evidence, the source said.
The four men were arrested on Friday, 24 hours after
the attack that killed five people and wounded 68 in
the south-eastern city.
Targeting a passing army vehicle carrying some 50
soldiers, four of the dead were high school students
attending classes at a nearby private school.
No one has claimed responsibility, but senior
officials put the blame on the the Turkey's
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as
a terrorist organisation by Turkey, US and EU.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the
attack a "betrayal" of Kurds by the aggressors.
Diyarbakir was the target of a 2006 explosion that
killed 10 people and was also blamed on the PKK.
The PKK, had threatened to retaliate against Turkish
air strikes on its bases in neighbouring Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq' last month.
The Turkish military has confirmed three air strikes
against PKK targets in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'
since December 16, conducted with US intelligence
assistance.
It has said at least 150 militants were killed and
more than 200 PKK positions destroyed.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984
when PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. A
large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas,www.ekurd.net
the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, granting them full
political freedoms.
AFP
**
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, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community 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
|
® 