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 Turkey: Kurdish mayor of Van held on separatist KCK charges

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Turkey: Kurdish mayor of Van held on separatist KCK charges  10.6.2012  
By Ekurd.net staff writers

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Kurdish Van Mayor Bekir Kaya (2nd from left) was detained during anti-KCK operation. Photo: AA. • See Related Links
Mayor of Van remanded in custody

June 10, 2012
ISTANBUL, — A Kurdish mayor was accused of belonging to an armed separatist group and detained by a Turkish court, television channels reported on Sunday, in the latest sign of a crackdown on Kurdish politicians and activists, Reuters reported.

Bekir Kaya, the mayor of the Kurdish city of Van in southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), and two provincial leaders in the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) were remanded in custody pending trial late on Saturday, CNN Turk said.

Two other BDP officials were charged and released, it added.

The arrests were the latest carried out during an investigation into the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), which Turkish authorities say is the urban wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The state has detained thousands of Kurdish politicians and activists since 2008 on suspicion of links with the KCK. The EU,www.ekurd.net which Turkey seeks to join, has said the case undermines efforts to resolve the PKK conflict.

The PKK has scaled back its demands for an independent Kurdish homeland to a campaign for greater cultural and political rights for Turkey's estimated to over 20 million ethnic Kurds.

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.

In March 2012 alone over 1,300 people have been detained. According to figures compiled by ANF news agency, at least 1,366 people were taken into custody within the scope of so-called KCK operations. KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) the alleged urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Among them hundreds were sent to prison in Turkey within the last one month March 2012.

On May 8, 2012, 30 people are taken into custody in 6 provinces within the scope of Kurdistan Democratic Confederation (KCK) operations. Teams of the Anti-Terrorism Branch busted houses in Urfa, İstanbul, Muş, Ankara, Diyarbakır, Eskişehir, "Siyaset Akademisi (Politics Academy)" and Kurdish KURDİ-DER association (Kurdish Language Research and Development Association) of The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

May 28, 2012, over 35 people detained in Urfa and Diyarbakir on Monday , many BDP executives are among the people taken into custody. New wave of searches and detentions on May 28 in Urfa and Diyarbakir where a total of 35 people, included many BDP executives, have been taken into custody.

The PKK has several times proposed peaceful solutions regarding Kurdish problem, Turkey has always refused saying that it will not negotiate with “terrorists”.

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 and 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: Reuters | AFP | ekurd.net | agencies

Copyright © 2012 ekurd.net. All rights reserved    

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