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DTP deputy Pervin Buldan criticizes
Talabani's visit to Turkey
10.3.2008
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March 10, 2008
Ankara, -- If Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
has an ounce of “Kurdish pride,” he should not be
cooperating with the Turkish state and the
government, a deputy from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Party (DTP) said on Saturday.
DTP Igdir deputy Pervin Buldan, speaking to her
party’s Igdir branch last Saturday in an event
organized to mark March 8,www.ekurd.net
International Women’s
Day, made comments during her speech addressing the
Iraqi leader, who was in Turkey on a two-day visit.
“Mr. Talabani, if you have
the slightest bit of Kurdish pride, you wouldn’t
cooperate with the state and government here in
Turkey,” she said.
Buldan also expressed her party’s demand for amnesty
for Abdullah Öcalan, the founder and leader of the
terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who has
been serving a life sentence since he was captured
by Turkish authorities in 1999. |
Pervin Buldan,
Pro-Kurdish DTP deputy |
The 59-year-old Kurdish
rebel is the sole inmate on the prison island of
Imrali in the Marmara Sea off Istanbul.
She also expressed frustration with a Council of
Europe anti-terror panel which last week announced
its decision that there was no proof to back claims
that Öcalan is being poisoned by his captors,www.ekurd.net
an allegation made by
Öcalan’s lawyers last year.
“I hereby protest the [Council of Europe] committee
for the prevention of torture, which released a
report saying that Mr. Öcalan is not being poisoned.
Because we know that he is being gradually
poisoned,” she said and vowed that the DTP would
trounce the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)
in the upcoming local elections.
Criticizing a Turkish military ground operation into
Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq' to crush PKK
bases in that country, Buldan said: “We women say to
these wars and operations going on, ‘Edi bese’
[enough is enough]. You have conducted 24
operations. What use would it be have if you
conducted a 25th, 26th or 27th? Do you think this
[problem] would be solved, by staging ground
operations or air strikes? We are calling on you for
the last time. Come, let’s solve this problem
through dialogue together.”
Meanwhile, the Igdir Police Department Sunday
evening filed a complaint with the public prosecutor
against Buldan on charges of praising a crime and a
criminal in her March 8 speech. The file accuses
Buldan of having referred to the PKK as “guerillas”
instead of 'terrorists' and to Öcalan as “Mr. Öcalan,”
which the police say is a sign of respect for the
founder of the terrorist group.
Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when 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.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
the Ankara, U.S. and the EU.
todayszaman com | Agencies
**
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 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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