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Ocalan should be discussed, lawmaker
Sebahat Tuncel says
10.3.2008
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March 10, 2008
Ankara, -- The views of Abdullah Ocalan, the
imprisoned leader of the Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), “should be discussed” in order
to reach a solution to the Kurdish problem, a
pro-Kurdish lawmaker said Sunday.
Speaking at a meeting organized by the Antalya
branch of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP),www.ekurd.net
Sebahat Tuncel said both
“the guerrillas and the soldiers dying in mountains”
are their sons.
Addressing around 100 people at the meeting
organized to mark March 8 International Women's Day,
Tuncel said Turkey is living through a “de facto
war” for the last 30 years and that 25 cross-border
raids into Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq' which
were launched throughout this period failed to yield
a solution to the problem. |
Sebahat Tuncel, lawmaker from the
Pro-Kurdish DTP party |
“Kurds demand their
democratic rights. They want education in their
mother tongue and to live their language,” she said.
“The solution lies in debating [Abdullah] Ocalan's
views … We will not let our children die.”
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.
turkishdailynews com.tr | Dogan News Agency.
**
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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