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Turkish parliament passes law to keep
Kurdish children out of jail
22.7.2010 |
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Turkey's parliament passed a law reducing penalties
for children accused of terrorism-related offences
July
22, 2010
ANKARA, —
Turkey's parliament passed a law early on Thursday
reducing penalties for children accused of
terrorism-related offences, reforming legislation
which rights groups say is at odds with European
standards.
A top European human rights envoy this month
urged
EU membership candidate Turkey to radically reform
its juvenile justice system, under which hundreds of
Kurdish children have been jailed.
Under the reform, children taking part in illegal
protests or spreading separatist propaganda will no
longer be prosecuted under anti-terror laws,
state-run Anatolian news agency said. |
Turkish parliament |
Juvenile courts will
handle cases related to such minors.
The law also reduces the minimum prison sentence for
anyone taking part in illegal protests to six months
from 1-1/2 years.
Hundreds of Kurdish children -- some as young as 11,
according to activists -- have been prosecuted by
Turkish authorities fighting Kurdish rebels in the
country's southeast.
The legislation effectively provides an amnesty for
children currently in prison and makes it much
harder for future offenders to be jailed, Kurdish
parliament member Bengi Yildiz explained.
"About 190 children currently in jail are expected
to walk free ... Also thousands others who remain on
trial will benefit from the law," he told AFP.
Stone-throwing children have become a fixture at
Kurdish demonstrations, which routinely involve show
of support for the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
listed as a terrorist group by Ankara over its
violent 26-year campaign for self-rule in the
southeast.
Hundreds of minors have been prosecuted by adult
courts under Turkey's tough anti-terror law, which
allows judges to consider pro-PKK protests as
terrorist propaganda and punish demonstrators with
heavy jail terms.
About 2,500 minors aged between 12 and 18 stood
trial at juvenile and adult courts under the
anti-terror law from 2006 to 2008, and nearly 470
were convicted, according to the justice ministry.
The government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has
pushed through a series of reforms designed to boost
the rights of Kurds and end a 26-year-old conflict
with the Turkey separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
However, the reform process has lost momentum amid
growing public anger at an upsurge in separatist
violence in recent months.
Since 1984 the PKK [Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan] 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.
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.
A large Turkey's Kurdish community estimate to 25
million openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK
rebels.
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.
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.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, Reuters | AFP | Agencies
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