|
Kurds rally for peace in Turkey
2.9.2009
|
|
|
|
September 2, 2009
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, — Tens of thousands of Kurds rallied Tuesday
urging Turkey to grant them greater rights and reach
a peace deal with Kurdish rebels who
extended their truce
till the end of the Muslim holy fasting month.
Organisers said about 100,000 people turned up in
Diyarbakir, the largest city in the
Kurdish-dominated southeast, at the rally called by
the main Kurdish political party, the Democratic
Society Party (DTP).
In a speech often interrupted by applause, DTP
leader Ahmet Turk said the government must negotiate
with the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to end
the 25-year violence.
"We have always said the problem can be solved only
through dialogue. But what we can do is limited
because those who have been fighting with loss of
life for nearly 30 years must be part of the
negotiation process," he said.
Turkey refuses any contact with the PKK, blacklisted
by much of the global community as a terrorist
organisation, and has already dismissed a peace plan
prepared by jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan that
is yet to be announced.
Turk said Kurds did not want to break up Turkey and
called on Ankara to take measures to ensure equal
rights for the community,www.ekurd.net
which has long called
for Kurdish identity and culture to be officially
recognised.
"Do not try to impose the unitary state on us as a
state based on race," he said.
Many demonstrators held portraits of Ocalan and
waved flags in the Kurdish colours of red, green and
yellow as songs praising the rebel chief blared out
of loudspeakers.
"There can be no peace without a counterpart," read
a placard in Turkish and Kurdish, while another said
"I want my language, do not ban my language."
A separate demonstration in Istanbul, organised by
trade unions, civic bodies and political parties in
support of a democratic and peaceful resolution of
the conflict, drew some 5,000 people, media reports
said.
The Turkish government has been trying to draw up
support for a package of reforms to expand the
rights of the Kurdish community, hoping to encourage
the PKK to lay down arms.
No details of reforms have been released, but
Interior Minister Besir Atalay said Monday that the
government had no plans for a general amnesty for
Kurdish rebels or constitutional amendments.
The PKK on Tuesday accused Ankara of failing to take
any "concrete or satisfactory" step in its bid to
address Kurdish grievances, as it announced that an
extension of its unilateral ceasefire until
September 22. |
Supporters of Kurdish rebel group of the Kurdistan
Workers party , or PKK, shout slogans during a
demonstration in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Sept. 1,
2009. Ahmet Turk, leader of the pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Party, urged the Turkish
government to open dialogue with Kurdish rebels to
end the 25-year-old conflict that has killed tens of
thousands of people
A Kurdish woman holds a sign which reads: "Don't ban
my language" during a peace day rally in the
southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir September 1,
2009
Pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) leader
Ahmet Turk addresses the crowd during a peace rally
in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir
September 1, 2009 |
|
"Our movement has seen
it appropriate to extend the non-action period until
the end of" the Eid ul-Fitr festival marking the end
of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, said a PKK
statement carried by the pro-Kurdish Firat news
agency.
"In the meantime, we will watch closely the attitude
of the Turkish state ... and make an evaluation," it
added, calling on Ankara to announce the details of
Ocalan's peace plan which his lawyers say he handed
to his jailers last month.
Opposition parties remain hostile to Ankara's plan,
arguing that broader Kurdish rights would pave the
way for Turkey's disintegration.
The army has also warned that the planned reforms
must not endanger unity, underlining a
constitutional article that describes Turkey as
being an indivisible whole with Turkish as its
language.
Media reports have said that the government plan may
involve restoring the Kurdish names of villages that
have been renamed and lifting a ban on using Kurdish
in political propaganda.
But sceptics argue that a lasting settlement cannot
be achieved if Ankara insists on rejecting dialogue
with the PKK and fails to draw up a clear strategy
to convince the rebels to lay down arms.
Over 44,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) 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,www.ekurd.net
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.
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, AFP |
Agencies
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
®
