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Pro-Kurdish party leader warns Turkey's
football federation 17.3.2010
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March
17, 2010
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern
region of Turkey, — A pro-Kurdish party leader has
warned the Turkish Football Federation, or TFF, to
be “careful and sensitive” when handling the
decision on the outcome of a suspended
Diyarbakirspor game.
The TFF awarded Bursaspor a 3-0 default win over
Diyarbakirspor on Tuesday for a match suspended on
March 6 after Diyarbakırspor fans threw objects at
the visiting team's players.
On Sunday, a match between the Istanbul Municipality
and Diyarbakırspor was canceled at Istanbul’s
Atatürk Olympic Stadium after Diyarbakırspor
supporters stormed the pitch.
The federation is expected to decide on the outcome
of the game on Friday, and according to the
regulations, Diyarbakırspor will be dropped to the
lower division if it gets a second default loss for
fan violence. |
Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the pro-Kurdish
Peace and Democracy Party, speaks at a Neworz
celebration in Hakkari, the Kurdish region of
Turkey. AA photo |
“The federation should be very careful and sensitive
when handling the decision on the Istanbul
Municipality-Diyarbakırspor game,” Selahattin
Demirtaş, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peace and
Democracy Party, or BDP, told reporters Wednesday,
in the eastern city of Hakkari.
“Diyarbakırspor is in a very delicate situation, and
the football federation should take social peace
into consideration when discussing the decision,” he
said.
The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has
replaced the Democratic Society Party (DTP)
following the closure of this party.
Demirtaş argued that the referee’s decision to call
off the game was wrong, adding that there were only
three minutes to go when the game was suspended.
“The federation will have a fair decision,www.ekurd.netwhich
will contribute to Diyarbakırspor in its fight
against the relegation,” said the party leader.
“That is what I hope as a Diyarbakır deputy and
Diyarbakırspor fan.”
Demirtaş said the football federation should punish
the discriminatory chanting against Diyarbakırspor
fans at away games, which he said is “indeed a
protest against the Kurdish identity of the
Diyarbakırspor supporters.”
On various occasions Diyarbakırspor, which
represents the biggest Kurdish city in southeastern
Turkey [Northern Kurdistan], and its supporters have
been the target of protests against the outlawed
Turkey Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Many
ultra-nationalists consider the team to represent
Kurds and, by extension, the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party, or PKK.
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 | Agencies
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