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Massoud Barzani keep away from Turkey's
Kurdish DTP delegation visiting Kurdistan
10.5.2008
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May
10, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region, 'Iraq',--
Iraqi Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzani
and regional prime minister Nechirvan Barzani both
refused to give appointments to a pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Party (DTP) delegation from
Turkey.
The DTP delegation led by parliamentary group
chairman Ahmet
Turk met Iraqi President
Jalal Talabani in Sulaimaniyah. Talabani is also the
leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan which is
a leading party in the Kurdish coalition.
However,www.ekurd.net
both the Barzanis
preferred to distance themselves from the DTP
delegation.
Turkish officials accuse the DTP of towing the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK.
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. |
Massoud Barzani, the President of the autonomous Regional
Government of Kurdistan 'Iraq' |
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.
Sources close to the Barzanis said they did not want
to receive the DTP people and antagonzie Ankara at a
time when relations are starting to warm up between
the Iraqi Kurdistan government and Turkey after a
long chill.
Senior Turkish officials
met with Nechirvan Barzani in Baghdad
recently to formally start the dialogue between the
Iraqi Kurdistan government and Ankara.
There was also talk that Talabani had been misguided
by his aides and had met the DTP delegation.
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.
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.
Information for this report was provided by,
thenewanatolian com | 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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