DATE=2/22/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / KURDS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259427
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Tensions are rising in Turkey's largely
Kurdish southeast region following the detention
of three Kurdish mayors accused of links with the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or P-K-K. As
Amberin Zaman reports, police in the Kurdish-
dominated city of Diyarbakir clashed (Tuesday)
with demonstrators who gathered to protest the
arrest of the mayors.
TEXT: Several hundred demonstrators gathered in
Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish dominated city in
southeastern Turkey, to protest the arrest of the
Kurdish mayors from Diyarbakir, Siirt and Bingol.
Police wielding batons ordered the people to
disperse. Clashes between police and
demonstrators broke out after they refused to
obey the order.
At least eight demonstrators are reported to have
been detained and many others were wounded as a
result of the confrontation. Many of the
demonstrators were chanting slogans calling for
the mayors to be released immediately.
Thirty three other Kurdish mayors elected on the
pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party, also known
as Hadep, were on hand for the gathering. They
read a statement protesting the arrests of their
colleagues. The mayors described the detentions
as a direct assault on Turkish democracy and
local government and said the arrests constitute
a serious infringement on the will of the people.
Turkey's main opposition party, the pro-Islamic
Virtue Party, lashed out at the mayors' arrests
as well. Virtue Party leader Recai Kutan compared
the government to "terrorists," saying the
arrests had hurt Turkey's image abroad.
The three mayors are being interrogated in
Diyarbakir by security forces about their alleged
ties to the P-K-K. Lawyers for the mayors said
their clients bore marks of possible torture and
are demanding they receive immediate physical
examinations.
Turkish officials say that Mayors Feridun Celik
of Diyarbakir, Selim Ozalp of Siirt and Feyzullah
Karaaslan of Bingol were detained on the basis of
testimony from captured P-K-K militants, who said
all three had, in their words, "received
instructions" and "transferred funds" to the P-K-
K. Hadep officials deny the charges.
Nearly 40 thousand people have died since the P-
K-K launched its armed campaign for Kurdish
independence in 1984. But the group has said it
has given up its military fight for good in line
with orders from its captured leader, Abdullah
Ocalan. The P-K-K says it will now struggle
through peaceful means for the establishment of
what it calls a "democratic republic," where
Turks and Kurds enjoy the same rights. (Signed)
NEB/AZ/GE/LTD/KL
22-Feb-2000 09:22 AM EDT (22-Feb-2000 1422 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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