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Reporters Without Borders criticised a
Turkish court’s indefinite suspension of two
pro-Kurdish websites
9.4.2008
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Turkey: Illegal court ban on Kurdish websites
deplored
April
9, 2008
Reporters Without Borders Tuesday criticised a
Turkish court’s indefinite suspension of two
pro-Kurdish websites and called for an explanation
from the authorities, as the law requires.
The Ankara assizes court on 20 March ordered
suspension of the website of the daily paper Gündem,
Ozgurgundem.org, which has been inaccessible since 1
April and on 11 February that of the Firat news
agency (ANF), firatnews.eu, both for alleged
“propaganda in favour of the Kurdistan Workers
Party.”
The worldwide press freedom organisation said the
websites had never been officially informed of the
court’s decisions and why exactly they had been
suspended and had not been able to defend
themselves.
Internet websites are routinely shut down when part
of their content is deemed unsuitable. Access to
YouTube inside Turkey has been blocked three times
in the past year after it posted a video that a
court said was insulting to modern Turkey’s founder,www.ekurd.net
Kemal Atatürk.
Under the November 2007 law governing online
publications and cyber-crime, websites can be
suspended during judicial investigations. A military
court banned the
independent news site
Indymedia without explanation on 1 April.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, rsf org
** 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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