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Turkey drafts Kurdish DTP party leader
Nurettin Demirtas into army
30.4.2008
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April
30, 2008
ANKARA, -- The leader of Turkey's main
Kurdish party was conscripted into the army Tuesday
in the middle of his trial on using "false"
documents to evade the compulsory draft, Anatolia
news agency reported.
Nurettin Demirtas, chairman of the Democratic
Society Party (DTP), had been held
since December
on charges of obtaining false medical reports
declaring him unfit for military service.
Late Monday, a military court decided to free
Demirtas, 35, along with 51 others standing trial on
similar charges. He risks up to 10 years in prison
if convicted.
Demirtas was immediately
drafted and taken to a garrison in the northern town
of Safranbolu, Anatolia reported. |
Nurettin Demirtas, President of the pro-Kurdish DTP
party, the only Kurdish party in Turkey. |
A medical examination earlier this year found him
fit for military service.
Demirtas, known as a Kurdish hardliner, was arrested
on December 17, shortly after being elected DTP
chairman, as part of a nationwide probe into a
network of doctors and middlemen who provided false
medical reports to draft evaders.
Demirtas, who is not a member of the parliament,www.ekurd.net
spent 12 years in prison
between 1993 and 2005 for membership in the Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK, the separatist Kurdish
group that has fought the government since 1984.
The DTP itself is currently on trial before the
Constitutional Court for alleged links to the PKK.
In November, Turkey's top prosecutor asked for his
Democratic Society Party — which has 20 seats in
Parliament — to be banned, accusing it of being "a
focal point" of separatist activities. No hearing
date has been set.
The Turkish authorities
seek to ban the
only pro-Kurdish DTP party, the DTP demanded
more rights for the Kurdish
minority and autonomy for the Kurds living in the
mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish
politicians say the measures fall short of their
expectations.
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 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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