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Divisions among Kurds in Turkey?
11.11.2011 |
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November 11, 2011
ANKARA, — Members of the separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party claim pro-Kurdish lawmakers aren't
doing enough to support their cause, Turkish police
said.
A report prepared by the Turkish National Police
Departments concluded that members of the Kurdistan
Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish initials PKK,
are frustrated with the lack of support from the
pro-Kurdish Peace and Development Party, or BDP.
PKK members are upset the BDP wasn't able to defend
pro-Kurdish citizens accused of supporting the
Kurdish Communities Union KCK,www.ekurd.net
a Kurdish organization that includes the PKK,
Turkish daily newspaper Today's Zaman reports.
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Demonstrators wave yellow Peace and Democracy Party
(BDP) flags (L) and display outlawed Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) banners during a protest against
the High Election Board's decision in central
Istanbul April 19, 2011. Photo: Reuters |
KCK-trial, on October 18, 2010 a Turkish
court began the trial
of 152 high profile Kurdish politicians and rights defenders,www.ekurd.net
accused of being the urban wing of the outlawed
separatist Kurdish PKK rebels.
Over
7748 people were taken into
custody and 3895 persons were
arrested in the scope of KCK operations during the past six months
[Till October 2011], the
pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party announced.
Dozens of BDP executives and employees are still in
prison.
The PKK further complained the BDP wasn't
established in the pro-Kurdish southern province of
Diyarbakir, where several arrests occurred.
Kurdish leaders in Iraq have complained that Turkish
military efforts to handle the PKK's insurgency were
counterproductive. A move to settle simmering issues
with the Kurdish minority was upended in 2009 when a
court banned the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society
Party from politics because of alleged ties to the
PKK, however.
Ankara announced last month it was deploying
unmanned aerial systems over its southern regions to
patrol the movement of Kurdish rebels in the area.
The Turkish Parliament recently approved a measure
that sanctioned cross-border raids to take on
elements of PKK.
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been
fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the
constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a
Kurdish state in the south east of the country,
sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000
lives.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous
Kurdish region
and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who
constitute the greatest minority in Turkey,
numbering more than 20 million. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees,
lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the
way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within
Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader
Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against
the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish
constitution.
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 as '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.
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