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Turkey: Case to disband pro-Kurdish DTP
party
24.6.2008
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June
24, 2008
ANKARA, Turkey, — Turkey's chief
prosecutor has given evidence to the constitutional
court, in a case aimed at closing down the country's
pro-Kurdish political party.
The Democratic Society Party (DTP) - which has 20
seats in the parliament - is accused of ties to the
Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK.
The case was opened last November when clashes
between the PKK and Turkish troops had intensified.
The DTP asked for extra time and has until September
to prepare its case.
The same prosecutor is also seeking the closure of
Turkey's governing AK Party, claiming it is
undermining the secular state.
Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya said Tuesday the
Democratic Society Party had become a "focal point
of activities against the sovereignty of the state."
'Backwards step'
The chief prosecutor presented his case in just 30
minutes.
He claims that the DTP is acting on direct orders
from the armed PKK,www.ekurd.net
or Kurdistan Workers'
Party, which it refuses to denounce as a terrorist
organisation.
The prosecutor describes the party as a focus for
separatist activities. He has asked the court to
close it down - and ban dozens of its members from
politics.
The DTP insists its only aim is to work for a
peaceful solution to the Kurdish conflict, which is
now more than two decades old, and has already
claimed almost 40,000 lives.
The DTP has 20 seats in the current parliament - the
first time a pro-Kurdish party has been represented
in national politics in over a decade.
Almost all its predecessors were closed by the
courts. DTP officials describe Turkey as a
"graveyard for political parties" and call the
closure case a step backwards for democracy.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
called on the party to label the PKK a terrorist
group.
But he also warned that closing down the DTP risks
forcing more people up into the mountains - and into
the ranks of the PKK.
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 fighting the Turkish
army. 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,www.ekurd.net
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,
BBC | AP | 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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