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Spain: Syrian Kurd who threw shoe at
Turkey's Erdogan willing to return home
21.2.2012
By ekurd.net staff writers |
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A Syrian man of
Kurdish origin has been sentenced to 3 years in
Spain for throwing shoe at Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Hokman Joma is willing to return to his homeland,
Syrian Kurdistan. Photo: EPA 2010
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February
21, 2012
MADRID, — Spanish daily El Pais reported
that Syrian Kurd Hokman Joma, who is in jail for
throwing a shoe at Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan in 2010, is willing to return to his
homeland, Syrian Kurdistan [western Kurdistan].
Joma has spent two years in jail after throwing a
shoe at Erdoğan in the Spanish city of Sevilla but
could possibly be released next year, the report
said, he been sentenced to three years in jail in
Spain.
Hokman Joma, 29-year-old, tried to hit Erdogan with
a
shoe on February 22, 2010 as
the Turkish leader got into a car during a visit to
the southern city of Seville, When he threw
his shoe, Joma was
chanting ‘Free Kurdistan!
Joma said during the trial that he never intended to
hurt the prime minister but only to "draw attention"
to the situation of the Kurdish people in Turkey.
Kurds are the largest
ethnic group without a state of their own, perceived
as posing a separatist threat and without any formal
representation on the world stage. They have been
subjected to genocide,www.ekurd.net
crimes against humanity and a
host of other human rights abuses. Ethnic cleansing programms have been implemented, accompanied by mass
killings, displacement and prohibitions on Kurdish
culture and language.
Over the last thirty years,
the Kurdish regions have been the scenes of
genocide, crimes against humanity, extra-judicial
killings, torture, mass displacement and censorship,
among other abuses of international law.
Today, millions of Kurds live as internally
displaced persons within state borders, physically
prevented from returning to their former homeland
and livelihoods following armed conflict. Millions
more live as migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
across the world.
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.
El Pais said Joma had begged not to be extradited to
Syria at the time of his trial but now he is willing
to go back to his country in light of the recent
developments there.
In December 2008 an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes
at then US president George W. Bush during his final
visit to Iraq, shouting:
"This is the farewell kiss you dog." The 30-year-old
was subsequently jailed for nine months. He was
released in 2009.
El Pais said Joma's jail term was out of proportion
when compared to that of Zaidi's but added that it
was "legal."
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,www.ekurd.net
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.
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.
Sources:
hurriyetdailynews.com | AFP |
AP | EPA | ekurd.net | Agencies
Copyright © 2012 ekurd.net
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