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Kurds of Armenia against Turkey
31.10.2008
By Sebouh Z. Tashjian and ekurd.net staff
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October
31, 2008
ARMENIA, — Waving the Kurdish and Armenian
flags to and fro and with the pictures of Ocalan on
the flags, groups of Kurds organized a protest
Wednesday near the Shahumyan square to demand the
release of imprisoned Turkey's Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK)
leader Abdullah Ocalan.
"We demand Turkey to release Ocalan. We condemn the
Turks for that act of terrorism and for torturing
our Ocalan. As long as we live,www.ekurd.net
we are going to fight
for our freedom," said Sevil Amoyan.
Kurdish leader Ocalan has been in the Imali prison
for 10 years for a conspiracy and has been treated
violently. Recently, there are more threats that the
Turks are ready to exterminate him.
As a state,www.ekurd.net
Turkey is no different
from the prison. This time the violence is aimed not
only at one person, but also the Kurds, who have
found themselves as hostages and have rose to defend
their leader from possible encroachments," said
protester Emij Elyan.
The protesters moved towards the UN office where
they handed the statement made by the "Kurdistan"
committee of Armenia stating the
following:
"We call on all humanity, states and international
organizations to combine efforts and establish
democracy in Turkey, eliminate the
threat of extermination of the Kurds and secure
peace and justice in the world."
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.
Demonstrations against the
alleged ill-treatment of imprisoned Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Kurdish leader
Abdullah Ocalan have taken place across the southern
and eastern provinces of Turkey since 17 October
On October 18,
Kurds protest
across Turkey sparked by allegations that
Kurdish PKK-rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan was
mistreated in prison.
Hundreds of Kurds demonstrated outside United
Nations headquarters
in Beirut on
October 26 to protest against the alleged bad
treatment in prison of rebel Kurd PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
October 26, 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.
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
on October 20, during a rally organized by the DTP after
clashes erupted between Turkish police protestors in
the Dogubeyazit district of Agri province. Dozens
have been arrested.
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,
Armenian News Network / Groong | Agencies | http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg248487.html
** 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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