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Euro 2008: The Kurds taunted the Turks
with chants of "Deutschland! Deutschland"
26.6.2008
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June
26, 2008
BERLIN, Germany, — , Berlin police reported
no serious trouble immediately after Germany's
thrilling 3-2 Euro 2008 semi-final win over Turkey
on Wednesday in a match watched by hundreds of
thousands of Germans and Turks around the city.
A police spokeswoman said there had been 11 arrests
for minor offences at the 'fan mile' in the centre
of the city, where an estimated 500,000 people had
gathered to watch the eagerly-anticipated game on
three giant screens.
Minor scuffles broke out after Turkey took the lead
in the first half of the match being played in
Basel, Switzerland, but police quickly calmed the
situation, Reuters Television pictures showed.
Jubilant Germans took to the streets on foot and in
cars after the final whistle, waving black, red and
gold flags and celebrating Germany's place in
Sunday's final in Vienna against Spain or Russia,
who play on Thursday. |
Berlin: The Kurds taunted the Turks with chants of
"Deutschland! Deutschland" and "Turks terrorists!"
while the Turkish side responded with "One Turkey!" |
In the heavily Turkish
Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Germans and Turks
partied past midnight, chanting the names of their
nations, beating drums, whistling and singing.
About 2.7 million people of Turkish origin live in
Germany,www.ekurd.net
more than in any other
country in western Europe, and the flags of both
countries have been fluttering side-by-side from
buildings and cars since the start of the three-week
tournament.
There was some tension between Turks and
Germany-supporting Kurds in Kreuzberg after the
match, but riot police moved to separate the two
groups and they quickly dispersed.
The Kurds taunted the Turks
with chants of "Deutschland! Deutschland" and "Turks
terrorists!" while the Turkish side responded with
"One Turkey!"
"This has nothing to do with soccer, this is just
politics," said one young Turkish woman at the
scene, adding that the Kurds were supporters of the
Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
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.
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.
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.
Television viewers of the match across Germany lost
the picture for about five minutes midway through
the second half,www.ekurd.net
which broadcaster ZDF
said was due to a power outage in Vienna.
The Austrian capital, which was hit by an electrical
storm, is the hub of TV operations for Euro 2008.
The picture went blank briefly several more times
but then ZDF solved the problem by tapping into a
Swiss TV signal.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
Reuters | 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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