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Europe: Thousands of Kurds demonstrate for
freedom of leader Abdullah Ocalan
15.2.2009
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February 15, 2009
STRASBOURG, France, — Thousands of Kurds from
across northern Europe demonstrated Saturday for the
release of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan on
the 10th anniversary of his capture by Turkish
special forces.
Organisers said 20,000 from
Germany, Switzerland and Belgium as well as France
marched in Strasbourg, headquarters of the Council
of Europe, while police put the number at 10,000.
As every year on the anniversary they paraded
through the city holding portraits of Ocalan and
banners demanding his release.
Ocalan, 59, founded the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK),www.ekurd.net
which 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.
Since 1984 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.
He was captured in Nairobi on February 15, 1999,
Kenya after he was forced to leave the Greek
embassy,www.ekurd.net
where he had taken
refuge while on the run after leaving his long-time
safe haven in Syria the previous year.
A Turkish court condemned him to death for treason
several months later, but the sentence was commuted
to life in 2002 after Ankara abolished capital
punishment as part of reforms to align with European
Union norms.
He is the sole inmate of an island prison in the Sea
of Marmara and last year the Council of Europe's
anti-torture committee (CPT) urged Turkey to end his
solitary confinement, stressing the threat to his
mental health. |
Kurdish protesters demonstrate in Strasbourg
February 14, 2009. Thousands of demonstrators hold a
poster of Abdullah Ocalan, protested in support of
jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah
Ocalan, who was captured ten years ago on February
15, 1999, and is currently serving a life sentence
in Turkey.
Kurdish protesters demonstrate in Strasbourg
February 14, 2009, Reuters |
The Turkish government
said in December it will decide this year whether to
transfer more prisoners to the island of Imrali.
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, but Kurdish politicians
say the measures fall short of their expectations.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, 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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