ANKARA, Turkey -- Two former leaders of a banned pro-Kurdish political party in Turkey face jail time for delivering speeches in support of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). A court in Ankara called for at least one year in prison each for Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk for delivering propaganda on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the official Anadolu Agency of Turkey reports Monday.
The two leaders were accused of making statements in support of the PKK while Ankara was negotiating for the release of eight Turkish troops captured in battle in 2007. Turk and Tugluk served as leaders of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) before an Ankara court in December moved to disband the party because of an alleged link to the PKK.
Ankara in the wake of the ban arrested scores of Kurdish sympathizers and pro-Kurdish leaders for speaking out in support of the PKK. Several of the leaders in the banned party later joined forces with the Peace and Democracy Party on the advice of Kurdish national leader Abdullah Ocalan.
The DTP ban struck a blow to Ankara's push for a political solution to lingering issues with the Kurdish nation. Pro-Kurdish groups demonstrated in December in Istanbul and in the Northern Kurdistan as tensions over the ban escalated.
Kurdistan Worker Party (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 is considered as a 'terrorist' organization by Ankara and the US. It also continues to be on the blacklist in EU despite its court ruling, which overturned the decision to place the Kurdish rebel on the European Union's terror list.
“By labelling PKK as a terrorist organisation, the EU and the US are giving the Turkey a green light to target its civilians. They give the Turkish government a free hand to do what it will” officials said. After 1954, apart from the Korean war, 1949-52 and invasion of Cyprus, 1974, the Turkish Army operations have continued to be exclusively against the Kurds.
Following the initial comment of Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that ‘'whether men, women or children, the security forces will react with disproportionate force’', several amendments were made to the country's anti-terror law, it is possible to charges children as terrorists and put them away for up to 50 years in jail. There are currently 2,622 minors serving time in Turkish prisons on the charge of terrorism.
In 23 of April 2009, an anti-terror police attacked and beat one of our children to death, the policeman was not punished:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEMuwkETXuU
In 2008, a policeman broke the arm of a Kurdish child in front of the cameras during the Kurdish festival Newroz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT9Gk3tkGsk
