|
Turkish soldiers charged with aiding
Kurdish PKK rebels
8.1.2008
|
|
|
|
January
8, 2008
ANKARA, -- A military prosecutor in Turkey
has brought charges against eight soldiers kidnapped
and released by Turkey's Kurdish PKK separatist
insurgents.
The Turkish troops were
captured Oct.
21 when the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party
fighters raided a military base in Turkey, killing
12 soldiers and injuring 13 more, the Turkish Daily
News reported Monday.
The military prosecutor brought charges against the
eight soldiers on the grounds that if they had kept
fighting the 12 others wouldn't have died. The eight
were
released by the Kurdish fighters Nov. 10.
They were
charged with
praising a crime and criminal, and not following a
direct order. If convicted,www.ekurd.net
they face up three to
five years in prison. One soldier also faces a life
sentence for charges of aiding in a crime to harm
the unity and sovereignty of the country and fleeing
overseas.
The indictment said two of the soldiers had not
fired their weapons at all during the fight, while
another soldier's weapon was missing.
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.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara, US
and EU.
UPI
**
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
|
® 