Posted on 09/10/2012 3:22:23 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Forty-four pro-Kurdish journalists went on trial in Turkey on Monday, charged with belonging to an armed rebellion in the country's largest media case, intensifying concerns about press and political freedoms.
Thousands of pro-Kurdish trade unionists, politicians, academics and journalists have been jailed since 2009, accused of links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a 28-year campaign against Turkey.
"The clampdown on the Kurdish press ... raises major concerns about the treatment of minorities and minority opinion," said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"Even when those views are offensive, they must be protected," she said.
The trial takes place against a surge in violence in the long-running conflict with the PKK.
Since June 2011, more than 800 people have been killed in fighting, including some 500 PKK fighters, 200 security personnel and 85 civilians in some of the heaviest fighting in years, according to the International Crisis Group. More than 40,000 people, mainly Kurds, have died since 1984.
Facing between seven and 20 years in jail, the defendants are accused of belonging to the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), which the state says is the urban wing of the PKK, seen as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
The Kurds could really bug the heck out of the Turks by putting out internationally a list of “demands” that were very reasonable by international and European standards.
Really simple human rights stuff, that even if the Turks weren’t actually violating would make the Turks look very bad.
And knowing the Turks, if one of the demands was, for example, the right for Kurds to eat strawberry pie, undoubtedly at least some of the Turks would demand a law that forbade the Kurds from eating strawberry pie, even if the Kurds have never eaten it.
Which would make the Turks look like jackasses.
Fresh Syria Resolution Pointless, Says Clinton
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/141586/fresh-syria-resolution-pointless-says-clinton-.html
Heh... too late! ;’)
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