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Kurdish protesters clash with Turkish
police over Ocalan
27.10.2008
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October
27, 2008
Gaziantep, Turkey, — Fresh protests over the
alleged mistreatment of jailed Kurdish PKK leader
Abdullah Ocalan ended in violence and arrests
Sunday,www.ekurd.net
Anatolia news agency
reported.
Police used teargas to break up a protest in the
town of eastern town of Gaziantep and arrested 10
supporters of the Kurdish leader. A number of
officers were injured by stone-throwing protestors.
Police in the western city of Izmir arrested five
protestors, while in the southeastern town of Cizre,
they fired water cannon at stone-throwing
demonstrators, the agency added.
The clashes came a day after seven policemen were
hurt and seven protestors arrested at demonstration
in the
eastern town of Van.
Protests spread across the country after Ocalan's
lawyers reported on Friday that he had been
assaulted by a guard and threatened with death in
his island prison of Imrali,www.ekurd.net
in the northwest.
Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin has denied the
allegations.
The leader of the Turkey's outlawed militant
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has been held in
solitary confinement since 1999.
Arrested in Kenya in February 1999, he was condemned
to death by a Turkish court but the sentence was
commuted to life imprisonment in 2002 after Turkey
abolished the death penalty.
Kurdish protests
across the country sparked by allegations that
Kurdish PKK-rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan was
mistreated in prison. |
Tear gas used by riot police to disperse Kurd
protestors. Kurds angry at alleged
abuses against jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan
have clashed with Turkish police.
PKK flags, Ocalan's photos at the demonstrations |
The claim sparked mass demonstrations that turned
violent in the mainly-Kurdish southeastern region
(Turkey Kurdistan) near the Iranian border.
One Kurdish
protestor was killed
Monday during a rally organized by the DTP after
clashes erupted between Turkish police protestors in
the Dogubeyazit district of Agri province.
Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey (Turkey-Kurdistan). A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
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.
The PKK is considered a '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.
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.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
AFP | Agencies
** Kurds are not recognized as an official minority
in Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in Big
Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to 25 million ethnic Kurds, a large
Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with
the Kurdish PKK for a Kurdish homeland in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media. The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet has led
to judicial persecution in 2000 and 2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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