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Belgian police raid suspected Kurdish PKK
offices, arrests about 40 women
4.4.2008
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April
4, 2008
BRUSSELS, -- Belgian police raided suspected
offices of the Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) on Friday, arrested about 40 women
believed to have attended a training camp and seized
documents, broadcaster RTL said.
The report, which cited anonymous sources, showed
police entering a Kurdish cultural centre in the
eastern town of Verviers.
A spokeswoman for Belgium's federal prosecutors
office was unavailable to comment. |
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A European Union court on Thursday
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its political wing on
the European Union's terror list.
The EU court said the autonomy-seeking PKK, or
Kurdistan Workers Party, and its political wing,www.ekurd.net
known as KONGRA-GEL, were not in positions "to
understand, clearly and unequivocally, the
reasoning" that led EU governments to add them to
the terror list.
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 continues to be on the blacklist list in EU
despite court ruling. The PKK is considered a
'terrorist' organization by Ankara, U.S.
Information for this report was provided by Reuters
| 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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