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Danish mayors defend free speech over
Kurdish ROJ TV case
12.3.2008
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Scores of Danish mayors have sent an open letter in
support of their Kurdish counterparts in the ongoing
ROJ TV case.
March 12, 2008
Denmark: -- High-level Danish politicians
have rallied together in support of 53 Kurdish
mayors who
risk up to 15 years
imprisonment for sending an open letter to Prime
Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, asking Denmark not
to shut down the controversial
Denmark-based Kurdish
station ROJ TV, reports
Nyhedsavisen newspaper.
The
Kurdish letter was sent in
December 2005 after a US and Turkish
request earlier that year to close down the station,www.ekurd.net
both countries claiming
that it support rebel 'terror' PKK group. The
transmission of ROJ TV in Denmark was the focus of
heated discussions between the Turkish, Danish and
US governments in the ensuing year.
Two years later the case is still pending, and with
the Kurdish mayors on trial, 33 Danish mayors and
deputy mayors have sent a letter to Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, requesting that
the case against the Kurdish politicians be dropped.
'The mayors are being charged with terrorist
activities because they sent an open letter to the
Danish prime minister,' said Klaus Bondam, deputy
mayor for technical and environmental affairs. 'The
only thing they have done is use their freedom of
speech and now they risk up to 15 years
imprisonment.'
Bondam called the case 'completely absurd' and said
it was important to send a powerful signal from
Denmark that freedom of expression was something to
be protected.
The letter to the Turkish prime minister was written
in conjunction with the Kurdish Forum, a Kurdish
organisation in Denmark.
Kirsten Jensen, a deputy mayor in the town of
Hillerřd who also signed the letter, said that if
Turkey wanted to join the European Union, it had to
follow the rules of democracy.
Muharem Erbey, defence counsel for one of the
Kurdish mayors, was pleased with the show of support
from the Danish mayors.
'The mayors are in a very difficult situation in
Turkey, so it's reassuring to see Danish politicians
backing them up,' said Erbey.
In June 2006, Denmark’s premier
expressed shock
that 56 Kurdish mayors in Turkey were under
investigation for urging him to resist pressure from
Ankara to close down an allegedly pro-rebel Kurdish
TV station in the Scandinavian country. Fogh
Rasmussen told Danish public radio. “It is shocking
that this can take place in a country which is
seeking EU membership.”
Turkey has repeatedly urged Denmark to close the
channel,www.ekurd.net
which sends news, entertainment, debate and
children's' programs to Kurds in Denmark, arguing it
is financed by the Kurdish rebel party, the PKK,
which is on the EU's list of terrorist
organisations.
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.
Information for this report was provided by cphpost
dk | AFP | AP | 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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