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Kurdish journalist charged with 525 years
in Turkey
20.2.2010
By ekurd.net staff |
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February
20, 2010
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern
region of Turkey, — Prosecutors are asking for a
total of 525 years for the former editor in chief of
the Kurdish daily Azadiya Welat
on charges of disseminating the propaganda of a
'terrorist' organization and for belonging to a
'terrorist' organization.
A total of 105 charges were brought against former
editor in chief Vedat Kurşun for publishing
propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization.
Kurşun had already been
under arrest
for the last eight months after being convicted of
belonging to a terrorist organization.
Kurşun appeared before the Diyarbakir Criminal Court
on Friday. The court ruled to merge his previous
case with the current one,www.ekurd.netraising
Kurşun’s charges to a total of 105 counts of
publishing propaganda and one count of belonging to
a terrorist organization. |
Vedat Kursun, the former in chief of the only
Kurdish-language newspaper in Turkey, Azadiya Welat. DIHA photo |
During the proceedings,
the prosecutors pointed out that although 32
different indictments were issued and 94 different
counts were brought against Azadiya Welat, the daily
has not stopped publishing propaganda on behalf of a
terrorist organization. The prosecutor pointed out
that the daily routinely refers to the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK’s, jailed leader
Abdullah Öcalan as a “Kurdish Public Leader.”
Last week, Ozan Kılınç, who assumed the role of
editor in chief after Kurşun, was
sentenced to 21 years
for publishing propaganda on behalf of a terrorist
organization, belonging to a terrorist organization
and for committing crimes on behalf of a terror
organization.
Founded in 1994 as a
weekly which turned into a daily in 2006, Azadiya Welat
has often been the target of judicial action on
grounds that it is a mouthpiece for the PKK, which
has led a bloody 25-year rebellion against Ankara.
Since 1984 PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey
(Turkey-Kurdistan) which has claimed around 45,000
lives of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas. A large Turkey's Kurdish community
openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
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.
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.
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.
Last August, the government announced plans to expand
Kurdish freedoms in a bid to erode popular support
for the PKK and end the insurgency.
Although the drive faltered amid a ban on the
country's main Kurdish DTP party, street protests and PKK
violence, Ankara has vowed to push ahead with the
reforms.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, Hurriyetdailynews com |
AFP | Agencies
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