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Dutch Politician 'Shocked' About Turkey's
Minority Policy
24.1.2008
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January 24, 2008
Amsterdam, -- A prominent politician from the
biggest Dutch government party said on Tuesday he
was "shocked" to see how Turkey deals with its
minorities. Speaking on Dutch radio the leader of
the Dutch Christian Democratic faction Pieter van
Geel spoke about his recent visit to Turkey.
He said that "if Turkey ever wants to be part of
Europe," it has to improve its record concerning the
freedom of religion and expression.
Van Geel also denounced the recent ruling of a
Turkish court to block access to YouTube because the
website would include films that were possibly
"offensive" to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,www.ekurd.net
the founder of modern
Turkey.
The Dutch Christian Democrats, who have led four
government coalitions since 2002, support Turkish
membership of the European Union "in principle," but
have traditionally made that conditional on Ankara's
human rights record.
In September 2007, the Christian Democrats succeeded
in getting broad support in the European Parliament
for a resolution "encouraging" Turkey to improve its
record in light of continued negotiations about
European Union membership.
DPA
**
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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