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Kurdish MP Sebahat Tuncel sentenced to 8
years in Turkish prison on PKK affiliation charges
18.9.2012 |
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Sebahat Tuncel, Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and
Democracy Party (BDP) Istanbul deputy. Photo: DHA
September 18, 2012
ISTANBUL,— Pro-Kurdish Peace and
Democracy Party (BDP) Istanbul deputy Sebahat Tuncel
has been sentenced to eight years and nine months in
prison for being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), Turkish media reported
Tuesday.
Tuncel was detained and released in 2007 when she
was elected as a deputy while the court case was
still proceeding.
If the Supreme Court of Appeals approves the
sentence, Tuncel will be stripped of her deputyship.
Tuncel has also been banned from leaving 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. More than 40,000 people have since been
killed.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous 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.
The PKK wants constitutional recognition for the Kurds, regional
self-governance and Kurdish-language education in schools.
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 as '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
© 2012 Ekurd.net
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