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23 Kurdish officials charged in Turkey
with rebel links
26.12.2009
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December 26, 2009
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, — A Turkish court has
charged 23 Kurdish officials, including eight
mayors, for links with Kurdish separatists, a
judicial source said Saturday.
The court in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's
Kurdish-dominated southeast, charged the suspects
overnight, the source said.
They are among 31 people who
were detained
on Thursday in a sweeping dawn operation spread over
11 provinces as part of a probe against the outlawed
Turkey Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its
off-shoots in urban centres.
It was the third such operation this year. More than
100 people have already been charged in the
investigation led by the chief prosecutor's office
in Diyarbakir.
The eight mayors charged used to be members of the
now-defunct Democratic Society Party (DTP).
The DTP
was banned by
Turkey's top court two weeks ago on the ground that
it was linked to the PKK,www.ekurd.neta
verdict that sparked violent Kurdish protests across
the southeast that claimed two lives.
Following the ban on the DTP, party members have
joined the Peace and Democracy Party, a recently
founded Kurdish party.
Since 1984 PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey
(Turkey-Kurdistan) which has claimed around 45,000
lives of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas. A large Turkey's Kurdish community
openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority.
The government categorically rejects dialogue with a
group it labels a terrorist organization and says it
will not let up on the military campaign against the
rebels. 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 Kurdish question cannot be resolved without
recognizing the will of the Kurdish people and
holding dialogue with its interlocutors," the group
said.
The PKK has long called on Ankara to halt military
operations and agree to negotiations for a solution,
which it says should include official recognition of
the country's Kurds in the constitution.
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,www.ekurd.net
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.
The European Union, which Turkey wants to join, has
praised Erdogan's efforts to end the conflict. His
so-called democratic initiative aims to expand
cultural and political liberties to address decades
of grievances from Kurds who say they have faced
state-sanctioned discrimination and violence.
Since August, the Ankara government has been working
on a plan to expand Kurdish freedoms in the hope of
ending the PKK's deadly campaign.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
AFP | Agencies
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