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Lebanon: Kurds Demonstrate at EU Embassy
3.3.2008
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March 3, 2008
Beirut, Lebanon, -- Hundreds of Kurds
demonstrated in Beirut on Sunday asking the European
Union to investigate charges that Turkey was
poisoning jailed Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
The demonstrators, who failed to reach the EU
offices in downtown Beirut due to intensified
security arrangements,www.ekurd.net
claimed that Turkey was
"targeting Ocalan physically through a programmed
poisoning for failing to finish off the Kurdish
resistance movement."
Ocalan has been jailed in Turkey for over nine
years. |
Kurdistan Workers Party PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan
jailed in Turkey |
A statement, signed by
the Kurdish People in Lebanon, said the EU has
failed to inform the public of Ocalan's blood tests.
The statement did not say when such tests have been
conducted, but claimed the EU's alleged failure to
declare their results is tantamount to "practical
participation in the crime."
The statement called for a "peaceful settlement to
the Kurdish cause through political dialogue."
"Real peace can be achieved through Ocalan's
freedom," The statement concluded.
Since 1984 the 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 rebels.
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, the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms. Turkey is home to 25 million
ethnic Kurds.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
the U.S. and the EU.
naharnet com
**
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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