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Turkish court bans pro-Kurdish daily Özgür
Gündem for month: Editor
26.3.2012 |
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A Turkish court banned a pro-Kurdish newspaper for a
month for spreading "terrorist propaganda" or
propagating PKK. The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas,
the party also demanded an end to
ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
Copy of Ozgur Gundem held by Kurdish MP Ozgur Gundem:
Photo: Cihan
Ozgur Gundem's editor Huseyin Aykol
March 26, 2012
ISTANBUL, — A Turkish court banned a
pro-Kurdish newspaper for a month for spreading
"terrorist propaganda" and police raided its offices
in Istanbul to seize the Sunday edition, its editor
said.
Ozgur Gundem editor Huseyin Aykol said the court, in
its decision late on Saturday, cited the newspaper's
reporting of Kurdish New Year celebrations from the
Qandil mountains in Kurdistan region in Iraq's north
as one example.
The Qandil mountains are the main base of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants.
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.
"We have suffered such a huge number of arrests and
such intense pressure on us over the year. We don't
want to get used to this," Aykol told Reuters.
In December, police detained several of the
newspaper's journalists and carted away computers as
part of a crackdown on Kurdish media outlets.
Two years ago, a Turkish court sentenced the editor
of a Kurdish newspaper to 21 years in prison for
printing what it called Kurdish terrorist
propaganda.
Aykol said a total 109 publishers and journalists
from Dicle news agency, Firat news agency,www.ekurd.net
Azadiya Welat and Ozgur Gundem were currently
detained. Most are pending trial but some have been
convicted.
Ozgur Gundem, which prints in Turkish to raise
awareness of the Kurdish issue, was first published
in 1992 but was banned two years later and only
began publishing again last April.
Turkey and Kurdish militants are fighting
27-year-old war in the mountains of southeast Turkey
and Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. The Turkish
government refuses to negotiate directly with the
PKK.
Some 700 more people were arrested, and one
policeman and a Kurdish activist were killed during
Kurdish New Year celebrations that turned into riots
this week as police tried to stop a show of popular
strength by Kurds across the country.
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.
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