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Turkey arrests over 100 people in operation against KCK
Kurdish Communities Union
13.2.2012
By ekurd.net staff writers |
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Raids and detentions in Istanbul, Ankara and
Diyarbakir February 13, 2012.
On October 18, 2010 a Turkish court began the KCK
trial of 152 high profile Kurdish politicians and
rights defenders in KCK (Kurdistan Communities
Union) case, accused of being the urban wing of
separatist Kurdish (Kurdistan Workers' Party) PKK
rebels, Photo: ANF
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February 13, 2012
ANKARA, — Turkish police made around 100
arrests on Monday in a major new nationwide
operation targeting union leaders and activists over
their links to Kurdish rebels, television channels
reported.
Police raided offices and homes in Istanbul, Ankara
and Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's mainly
Kurdish southeast, NTV and CNN-Turk reported. Raids
also took place in six other cities.
The operation was part of a wider legal offensive
against the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK),www.ekurd.net
a union regarded by the authorities in Ankara as the
political wing of the banned Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK).
Many of those who were arrested had been involved in
cases defending the rights of Kurdish municipal
workers, the reports said.
According to Dicle News Agency the number of arrests
have risen to over 140 in the operations in 16
cities under the name of KCK (Union of Kurdistan
Communities).
Fifteen trade union representatives have been
arrested in Ankara as in Istanbul at least 40 have
been arrested, including Peace and Democracy Party (BDP)
executive board member Ezine Dal, BDP Bakırköy
Branch Executive Board Member Sevgi Kılıç, BDP
Bakırköy Co-Chair Filiz Yılmaz Canpolat, BDP members
Esin Ceylan, Murat Aktaşçı, Tayfur Turgut and former
DİHA reporter and filmmaker Mizgin Müjde Aslan. It
has also been reported that Van City Council Member
İdris Canbay who was visiting in Istanbul has been
taken under custody and a search has been started in
his house in Van.
On the other hand in Adana, four among the 41 taken
under custody two days ago have been jailed on the
charges of committing crimes on behalf of the
illegal organisation and producing propaganda of the
illegal organisation.
Lawsuits have also been filed for two other
detainees who have not been jailed. The 35
detainees, including 15 children, have been
transferred to the public prosecutor’s office for
interrogation.
Ankara says that the KCK wants to replace Turkish
government institutions in the southeastern Anatolia
region, which is majority Kurd, with its own
political structures.
Since 2009, some 700 people have been arrested over
alleged links to the KCK, according to government
figures. Kurdish media puts the figure at around
3,500.
The
KCK-trial began on October 18, 2010 when a Turkish
court began the trial
of 152 high profile Kurdish politicians and rights defenders,
accused of being the urban wing of the outlawed
separatist Kurdish PKK rebels.
Over
7748 people were taken into
custody and over 3895 persons were
arrested in the scope of KCK operations during the past
nine months, the
pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party announced.
Dozens of BDP executives and employees are still in
prison.
At least 567 people were detained by police from 10
December 2011 to 3 January 2012. Among the
detainees, including mayors, students, children,
human rights activists and union members, over 350
were remanded in custody and sent to prison.
On February 4, 2012, members from the Swedish Parliament
nominate imprisoned
Turkish publisher and human rights defender Ragıp Zarakolu
who is in jail for KCK links for the Nobel Peace.
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 ass '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.
Compiled by ekurd.net from agency reports
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
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