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Turkish Kurd politician Hilmi Aydogdu
jailed for sedition
22.4.2008
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April
22, 2008
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, — A Turkish court Tuesday sentenced a
Kurdish politician to 15 months' jail for
reportedly saying
Turkey's Kurds would see a Turkish attack on Kurdish
Kirkuk city in northern Iraq as an attack on their
own main city Diyarbakir.
Hilmi Aydogdu was found guilty of sedition. He went
on trial last year while regional chairman of the
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in
Diyarbakir,www.ekurd.net
largest city in Turkey's
mainly Kurdish southeast, adjacent to Iraq. In
February 2007, Turkish
authorities charged
a Kurdish official 'Hilmi
Aydogdu' with inciting "hatred" for
suggesting any military intervention by Turkey in
Kurdistan autonomous region (northern Iraq) would be
viewed as an attack on all Kurds.
Turkey has issued harsh warnings over the future of
the ethnically mixed, oil-rich city of Kirkuk in
northern Iraq, which the Iraqi Kurds want to
incorporate into Kurdistan autonomous region.
Aydogdu was charged after the media quoted him as
saying last year Turkey's Kurds would "consider a
Turkish attack on Kirkuk as an attack on Diyarbakir." |
Hilmi Aydogdu, head of the mostly Kurdish Democratic
Society Party (DTP) in the southeastern Kurdish
province of Diyarbakir |
Kirkuk city is historically a Kurdish city
and it lies just south border of the Kurdistan
autonomous region, the population is a mix of
majority Kurds and minority of Arabs, Christians and
Turkmen. lies 250 km northeast of Baghdad. Kurds
have a strong cultural and emotional attachment to Kirkuk,
which they call "the Kurdish Jerusalem.".
The article 140 in Iraqi constitution calls for conducting a census to be
followed by a referendum to let the inhabitants
decide whether they would like Kirkuk to be annexed
to the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region or having
it as an independent province.
These stages were supposed to end on December 31,
2007, a deadline that was later extended to six
months.
The former regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
had forced over 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up
their homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city
and the region's oil industry.
Defence lawyers said they would appeal the sentence.
Kirkuk has a large population of Sunni and Shiite
Arabs, as well as Turkmen.
Turkey sees itself as the traditional protector of
the Turkmen people who,www.ekurd.net
together with the Arabs,
have complained of being bullied by the Kurds.
Turkey's Kurdish community has long sought greater
autonomy.
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.
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, 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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