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Turkey: Diyabakir Mayor acquitted of
publishing invitation cards in Kurdish
6.2.2008
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February 6, 2008
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, --- The mayor of the southeastern Kurdish
city of Diyarbakir Osman Baydemir was acquitted
Tuesday of charges of publishing the 6th Culture and
Art Festival's invitation cards in Kurdish, Zaza,
English and Armenian in addition to Turkish, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
“Municipalities invite people to that kind of
festival in languages other than Turkish,” said
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir's lawyer,www.ekurd.net
Muharrem Erbey, in his
defense. Many municipalities in Turkey organize that
kind of festival, Erbey said and demanded Baydemir's
acquittal, saying Baydemir's behavior illustrates
his respect for Anatolian civilization.
Baydemir, one of Turkey's most popular Kurdish
politicians was tried for three-and-a-half years
imprisonment on charges of “violating the
prohibitions specified within the law on the Turkish
alphabet and its applications,”www.ekurd.net
according to article 222
of the Turkish penal code, and “misconduct in
office” because he financed the cards from the
municipality's budget. The court found Baydemir
innocent on both counts and acquitted him. |
Osman Baydemir, one of Turkey's most popular Kurdish
politicians and the mayor of Diyarbakir, the main
city in the Kurdish-majority southeast of Turkey. |
Meanwhile, Baydemir's
trial on charges of talking in front of outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) jailed leader
Abdullah Öcalan's picture during a meeting in London
is still ongoing in Diyarbakir.
turkishdailynews 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, 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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