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Lebanon: Kurds in pro-Ocalan protest
outside UN Beirut HQ
27.10.2008
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October
27, 2008
BEIRUT,
Lebanon, — Hundreds of Kurds demonstrated outside
United Nations headquarters in Beirut on Sunday to
protest against the alleged bad treatment in prison
of rebel Kurd PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
The protesters,www.ekurd.net
began their march at
Borj Hammoud, a mostly Armenian district in the
northeast of the city, waved Kurdish flags and
photos of Ocalan.
Many carried placards and chanted: "By our soul, by
our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for you, oh
chief."
They stamped on the Turkish flag in front of the
central Beirut building of the UN's Economic and
Social Commission for Western Asia and issued a
press release denouncing the "inhuman treatment"
inflicted on their leader.
Lawyers for Ocalan,www.ekurd.net
who heads the Turkey's
banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), said this
month that their client has been mistreated by
warders on the northwest Turkish prison island of
Imrali, where he is the sole inmate.
Turkish authorities have denied the allegations, but
they prompted pro-Ocalan rallies, often generating
violent clashes, in several Turkish towns where
Kurdish communities live.
Fresh protests over the alleged mistreatment of
jailed Kurdish PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan ended in
violence and arrests Sunday, Turkish police used teargas to break up a protest in the
town of eastern town of
Gaziantep and
arrested 10 supporters of the Kurdish leader.
The clashes came a day after seven policemen were
hurt and seven protestors arrested at demonstration
in the
eastern town of Van.
Kurdish protests
across the country sparked by allegations that
Kurdish PKK-rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan was
mistreated in prison.
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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