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Jailed Kurdish PKK-rebel chief urges
Turkey to resolve Kurdish conflict
13.2.2009
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February 13, 2009
ANKARA, — Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan
urged Turkish leaders to spend less time addressing
the Palestinian issue and more on resolving Turkey's
Kurdish conflict, a lawyer said Thursday.
Ocalan made the comments Wednesday during his weekly
meeting with his legal team on the prison island of
Imrali near Istanbul, said lawyer Muharrem Sahin.
Ocalan called for dialogue between Turkey's
government and Kurds as the 10th anniversary of
Ocalan's capture comes up on Feb. 15. Thousands of
Kurds in Turkey and Europe are preparing to protest
his capture.
Sahin quoted Ocalan as saying Turkey's leaders would
have «quickly solved this (Kurdish) problem if they
had diverted some of their concern away from the
Palestinian issue.
There was no immediate comment from the Turkish
government,www.ekurd.net
which usually refrains
from responding to remarks by Ocalan.
Turkey's Islamic-rooted government has been engaged
in peace-mediating efforts for Gaza, advocating a
policy of engaging the Islamic militant group Hamas,
which has been shunned by Israel, the West and some
Arab nations.
Turkey refuses dialogue with Ocalan's Kurdistan
Workers' Party, or PKK, but has recently granted
more cultural rights to Kurds and launched 24-hour
Kurdish language broadcasts by state television in
line with demands from the European Union. |
Jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan Now, The only
prisoner on the Imrali Island in the Turkish Sea of Marmara. photo from ROJ TV station 2007
Turkish Kurds hold a poster of the jailed leader of
the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Abdullah Ocalan,
during Nowruz celebrations in the southeastern city
of Diyarbakir. A large Turkey's Kurdish community
openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels. |
The rebel group,
however, claims the Kurdish language channel is only
a cosmetic change.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara and 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.
Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) (Partiya Karkeren
Kurdistan) took up arms for self-rule in the mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey (Turkey-Kurdistan). A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority.
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.
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,www.ekurd.net
but Kurdish politicians
say the measures fall short of their expectations.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, 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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