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Italian authorities arrest senior Kurdish
PKK separatist Nedim Seven
15.3.2008
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March 15, 2008
ROME, Italy, -- Italian authorities have
arrested the alleged treasurer of Turkey's outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) at Rome airport, the
Corriere della Sera daily reported Friday.
Nedim Seven was detained at Rome's Fiumicino airport
under the terms of an international arrest warrant,www.ekurd.net
the paper said, without
saying when the arrest took place. He was said to be
travelling with a fake diplomatic passport.
A court is set to decide whether to extradite him,
it added. |
Nedim Seven |
Seven had earlier been
arrested in France
with 14 other Kurds in February last year for
suspected "terrorist" activities, he was
released on
February 23, 2007. He had earlier been arrested at
the end of 2006 in the Netherlands during a routine
security check.
Ankara accuses Seven of being responsible for the
death of 15 people.
The PKK is considered a "terrorist" organization by
Ankara, U.S. and the EU.
Nearly 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.
AFP | 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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