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Turkish Kurd man charged with PKK
leadership role in Germany
13.4.2010 |
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April
13, 2010
ISTANBUL, Turkey, — German prosecutors say
they have charged a 43-year-old Turkish Kurd on
allegations he was a leader in Germany of the banned
Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
Federal prosecutors said Monday that Abdullah S. was
charged on February 18 with allegedly running the
organization's central sector in Germany from June
2003 to June 2004.
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They said the suspect allegedly coordinated
organizational, financial, propaganda and personnel
matters for the group while operating under the
alias Hamza.
No trial date has been
set.
Berlin banned the PKK in 1993 after it carried out a
campaign of firebombings on Turkish institutions in
Germany.
PKK guerrillas have been fighting for self-rule in
southeastern Turkey since 1984.
Since 1984 the 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, AP | Agencies
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