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Turkey convicts 53 Kurdish mayors for
backing Denmark-based Kurdish TV station
15.4.2008
By Staff
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April
15, 2008
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, — A Turkish court on Tuesday sentenced
53 Kurdish mayors to more than two months in prison
on charges of praising Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels,
but spared them from jail by converting their
sentences into fines.
The mayors had been on trial since September 2006
over a
letter they wrote to Danish
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen
in December 2005, asking him to ignore Ankara's
calls to ban the Denmark-based Kurdish television
station ROJ TV.
The Turkish authorities say ROJ TV is a mouthpiece
of the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
which has waged a bloody separatist campaign against
the Turkish army in the mainly Kurdish southeast
since 1984 .
The court in Diyarbakir, the main city of the
southeast, threw out the prosecution's demand for
up to 15 years in jail
for the defendants for supporting the PKK, but found
them guilty of "praising criminals."
The judge sentenced 53 mayors to two months and 15
days in jail each and converted their sentences into
fines of 1,875 Turkish liras (about 1,400 dollars,
900 euros) on account of their good behaviour in
court.
Among those convicted is Osman Baydemir, mayor of
Diyarbakir and one of Turkey's most popular Kurdish
politicians.
The court acquitted three other mayors who said
their names were placed among signatories on the
letter without their knowledge.
Defence lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.
All the defendants belong to the Democratic Society
Party DTP, the country's main Kurdish party which
faces a possible ban for alleged links to the PKK.
Kurdish politicians are often suspected of
supporting the rebels and are routinely prosecuted.
ROJ TV has long poisoned Turkish-Danish relations.
During a visit to Copenhagen in November 2005,
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
boycotted a joint news conference with Rasmussen
after the Dane rejected his request that a Roj TV
reporter be barred from entry.
Danish authorities said in 2006 that Roj TV's
programming contains no incitement to hatred of
Turkey and there is no proof it is linked to the PKK.
Scores of Danish mayors
have sent an open letter in support of their Kurdish
counterparts in the ongoing ROJ TV case. 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,www.ekurd.net
asking Denmark not to
shut down the controversial
Denmark-based Kurdish
station ROJ TV, reports
Nyhedsavisen newspaper.
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, which sends news, entertainment, debate and
children's' programs to Kurds in Denmark, arguing it
is financed by the Kurdish rebel party, the PKK
Since 1984 the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey (Turkey Kurdistan). 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
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel
group PKK and its political wing on
the European Union's terror list.
Information for this report was provided by, 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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