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Turkey: KCK case a peculiar example on
language rights
12.8.2011 |
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August 12, 2011
ISTANBUL, — The case where more than 2
thousand Kurdish politicians and rights activists
are on trial stays stuck as the court refuse to
allow the use of Kurdish, the defendants' mother
tongue. Lawyer Cinmen criticizes the government.
The massive case against Kurdish politicians and
rights activists, who are tried for 'being members
to the urban organization of the Kurdish rebel group
PKK, the KCK', is still stuck following its 27th
sitting on Wednesday in the main Kurdish city of
Diyarbakir.
Following the court's decision to restrain
defendants from using their mother tongue Kurdish,www.ekurd.netdefense
lawyers withdrew from the case and the Diyarbakir
Bar Association declined to assign any lawyers. |
Photo: bianet.org |
The court postponed the
case to August 25th and will consider moving the
case to another city.
With more than 2 thousand defendants, the case is
one of the biggest in Turkey's history. Lawyer and
rights activist Ergin Cinmen argues that the case
clearly depends on political motives.
He notes that the investigation against the
defendants has been conducted by the police and by
judges with special authorities. All in all, he
concludes that the case is forced to block a
peaceful solution to the decades-long Kurdish issue.
"Elected mayors, lawyers that deal with rights
violations and prominent intellectuals of the region
are charged in this case."
He says that the court's decision to disallow
defense in Kurdish clearly contradicts national and
international legislation. "Such an attitude should
have been left in the past. A state owned TV channel
broadcasts in Kurdish yet the judges continue to
define Kurdish as 'an unknown language'. Code of
Criminal Procedure states that the defendants can
defend themselves in the most convenient language
and the Lausanne Treaty also secures this right."
State's failure to allow a group of its citizens to
use their mother tongues in courts could cause
Turkey to be condemned in the European Court of
Human Rights, Cinmen says.
He was among the lawyers who had visited a group of
defendants in prison in mid-July. "None of them
thinks they have done anything against the law," he
quotes.
He holds the government responsible from the
situation and adds that under such circumstances it
would be impossible to make progress in the Kurdish
issue.
On October 18, 2010 a Turkish court began the trial
of 152 high profile Kurdish politicians and rights
defenders, accused of being the urban wing of
separatist Kurdish (Kurdistan Workers' Party) PKK
rebels.
Since it was established
in 1984, the Kurdistan Workers' Party 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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