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95 Kurdish politicians detained by Turkish
police on terror-related charges
17.9.2011 |
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September
17, 2011
DIYARBAKIR, The Kurdish
region of Turkey, — Turkish police have detained 95
Kurds in southeastern Turkey with suspected links to
the separatist Kurdish PKK rebels, security sources
said Saturday.
The detainees included members of the pro-Kurdish
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and elected
officials from the assemblies of the southeastern
Kurdish province of Sirnak and the cities of Cizre
and Semdinli, the sources said.
The police started to raid the homes of party
offices on Friday night and the operation went on
until Saturday morning, they added.
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Groups demonstrating
against the operations clashed with police in Cizre
on Friday night, while the shops remained closed in
the city on Saturday as a traditional way of protest
in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
Currently, some 2,500 BDP members, including five
parliamentarians, are already in jail with charges
of alleged links to the urban wing of the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK).
So called KCK-trial, Democratic Confederation of
Kurdistan, on October 18, 2010 a Turkish court began the trial
of 152 high profile Kurdish politicians and rights
defenders,www.ekurd.netaccused of being the urban wing of the
outlawed separatist Kurdish (Kurdistan Workers'
Party) PKK rebels, in a case seen as a democracy
test for Ankara. 104 of whom are jailed.
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,www.ekurd.netnumbering 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 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,
AFP | ekurd.net | Agencies
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