| Submitted by Tsiatsan on Wednesday, October 07 2009 |
The Democratic Society Party, DTP, has decided to open representative offices in Iran, Syria and northern Iraq, countries where important ethnic Kurdish populations exist.The decision was taken during the party’s convention held in Ankara on Sunday. A while ago, the party announced the establishment of representations in Brussels and in Washington, D.C., as part of the DTP’s efforts to better promote its policies abroad.The DTP’s office in northern Iraq is expected to be opened in Suleymaniya, in Iran’s Urumiya and in Syria’s Aleppo. It is not known when the offices will be opened. Another important decision made at the convention was to elect the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, Abdullah Öcalan’s brother Mehmet Öcalan to the governing body of the DTP. Similarly, grandson of Sheikh Sait, who revolted against the Turkish Republic in 1925, Bedri Fırat was also elected as a member of the Party Assembly.
Professor Büşra Ersanlı; writer Faik Bulut; actress Yeşim Dormen; former head of the Socialist Democracy Party Filiz Koçali; former minister responsible for human rights Adnan Ekmen; and former Republican People’s Party, or CHP, deputy Esad Canan were also included in the Party Assembly.
Apart from these figures, 16 people who are currently in prison on charges of having connections with the terror organization were also elected to the Party Assembly. Among them are deputy chairpersons Selma Irmak, Kamuran Yüksek and Bayram Altun.
The party will likely appoint Emine Ayna as co-chairwoman of the party alongside Ahmet Türk. In the coming days the party will select its new members for the Central Decision-making Council, or MYK.
