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Turkey: Kurdish DTP party granted extra
time over links with rebels
9.1.2008
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January
9, 2008
ANKARA, -- Turkey's Constitutional Court on
Wednesday gave the country's main Kurdish party
extra time to prepare its defence against charges of
alleged links with separatist rebels, a party lawyer
said.
"The court ruled to grant us an additional 30 days
to prepare our response to the indictment," Hamit
Geylani, who coordinates the Democratic Society
Party's (DTP) legal affairs, told AFP. "As a result,
we will be submitting our written response on
February 10."
Turkey's chief prosecutor asked the Constitutional
Court in November to outlaw the DTP,www.ekurd.net
saying it had become "a
hive of activity" against national unity through its
links with the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara, US
and EU.
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 DTP, which holds 20 seats in the 550-member
parliament, rejects accusations of links with the
PKK but has come under fire for refusing to brand it
a terrorist group and for voicing sympathy for the
rebels.
The legal proceedings come against a backdrop of
Turkish military action against PKK targets in
neighbouring Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' since
December 16, prompted by increased rebel violence
last year.
Turkey has in the past banned several Kurdish
parties for alleged links with the rebels.
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
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