DATE=2/24/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / KURDS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259519
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Turkish court has sentenced 18 leaders of
the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party - known as
Hadep - to jail for staging a hunger strike in support
of Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan. Amberin
Zaman in Ankara reports on the continuing legal
crackdown on Hadep, Turkey's largest pro-Kurdish
party.
TEXT: News of the prison sentences against the Hadep
members, including party chairman Ahmet Turan Demir
and former chairman Murat Bozlak, coincided with the
arrests of three mayors accused of links with Abdullah
Ocalan and his outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, the
P-K-K.
/// OPT /// Mayor Feridun Celik of the largest
Kurdish-dominated city, Diyarbakir, and Mayors Selim
Ozalp of Siirt and Feyzullah Karaaslan of Bingol, were
officially charged of aiding and abetting the P-K-K
and sent to Diyarbakir prison to await trial.
Lawyers for three men say they were not permitted to
sleep during four-days of interrogation in Diyarbakir.
. /// END OPT ///
The allegations against them include meeting with a
wanted P-K-K military commander and diverting
municipal funds to the guerrillas. The mayors and 34
other Hadep officials were swept to power in Turkey's
largely Kurdish southeast provinces in elections last
April.
P-K-K leader Abdullah Ocalan has called for the
Kurdish people to remain calm in the face of what he
described as a provocation. He was sentenced to death
for treason following his arrest in Kenya by Turkish
security officials more than a year ago.
/// OPT /// Ocalan, in comments published in the pro-
Kurdish daily newspaper, "Ozgur Bakis," charged that
the arrests had been masterminded by what he called
forces opposed to peace between Turks and Kurds. ///
END OPT ///
Ocalan has called off his armed fight for an
independent Kurdish state in a move his critics
describe as a desperate attempt to save his life. The
Turkish government has postponed the P-K-K leader's
execution until the European Court in Strasbourg
reviews his case.
Despite calls from the Council of Europe and the
European Parliament for the immediate release of the
mayors, there is little sympathy for their plight
among most Turks. Many Turks feel that Hadep is
acting as the political wing of the P-K-K
That suspicion has been strengthened by the fact that
some Hadep officials, including Secretary General
Mahmut Sakar, are among Ocalan's lawyers.
But some commentators in the pro-establishment Turkish
media point out the arrests will complicate Turkey's
efforts to become a full member of the European Union
(E-U). The European Parliament said Wednesday it
would likely review Turkey's recently acquired status
as an official candidate for E-U membership.
(SIGNED)
NEB/AZ/GE/RAE
24-Feb-2000 10:17 AM EDT (24-Feb-2000 1517 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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