DATE=2/23/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / KURDS / MAYORS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259486
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Turkish leaders are reacting angrily to calls
from Western European governments for the release of
three ethnic Kurdish mayors detained over the weekend.
As Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara, Turkish
President Suleyman Demirel said Wednesday that the
arrests of the mayors had -- in his words -- nothing
to do with the European Union.
TEXT: President Demirel described the arrests of
Feridun Celik of Diyarbakir, Selim Ozalp of Siirt and
Feyzullah Karaaslan of Bingol as what he called "a
legal procedure." Nobody, Mr. Demirel said, has the
right to commit crimes.
Mr. Demirel's statement followed calls from the
European Parliament and the Strasbourg-based Council
of Europe, of which Turkey is a founding member, to
release the mayors immediately.
The mayors from the largely Kurdish southeastern
provinces were detained and have been undergoing
interrogation in the provincial capital, Diyarbakir,
over their alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party, known as the P-K-K.
The mayors appeared before a special state security
court in Diyarbakir Wednesday for further
interrogation amid mounting tensions in the southeast
region. Under Turkish law, prosecutors are authorized
to extend the pre-trial detention period by a further
week before the mayors appear in court.
The mayors are members of the pro-Kurdish People's
Democracy Party, known as Hadep. Hadep officials deny
any links with the separatist rebel group and its
captured leader, Abdullah Ocalan. But their party is
facing closure over charges that it is acting as a
political front for the P-K-K.
Prosecutors are demanding up to three years in jail
for Hadep party leader, Ahmet Turan Demir, on charges
of making separatist propaganda during a speech last
year in which he called for the introduction of
constitutional guarantees for the Kurds' ethnic
identity.
Western diplomats in the capital, Ankara, say the
arrests will likely undermine Turkey's efforts to join
the European Union. One of the conditions set down by
the European Union is that Turkey grant its estimated
12-million Kurds cultural rights, including the right
to broadcast and educate in the own language.
Visiting Luxembourg Foreign Minister, Lydie Polfer,
told reporters that the European Union had what she
called, "great difficulty," understanding the
detention of the mayors and that she had told her
Turkish counterpart, Ismail Cem, as much during talks
with him in Ankara.
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit earlier rejected
such criticism as an unacceptable intrusion in
Turkey's internal affairs. Mr. Ecevit said Europe
needed to understand what he termed Turkey's warnings
with regard to how membership negotiations with the
European Union would work.
Western diplomats say Turkey will have to heed
Europe's warnings as well if it wants to become a full
member of their club. (Signed)
NEB/AZ/GE/ENE/JP
23-Feb-2000 11:17 AM EDT (23-Feb-2000 1617 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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