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Turkey detains Kurdish MPs (1)

01 January 1991

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Turkey detains Kurdish MPs
artdoc June=1994

Six Kurdish MPs, members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Party
(DEP), have been arrested by police after the right-wing Turkish
parliament voted to lift the immunity from prosecution of several
Kurdish deputies. A radical Moslem MP, accused of attacking
secularism, was also detained but later released.
DEP chairman, Hatip Dicle, and deputy, Orhan Dogan, were
bundled into police cars as they left parliament on the evening
of March 2. The other five MPs surrendered to police the
following day after seeking sanctuary inside the Parliament.
The MPs have been accused of crimes against the Turkish state,
under Section 125 of the penal code; it is a charge that carries
the death penalty. The DEP advocates Kurdish autonomy in south-
eastern Turkey and refuses to condemn the Kurdish Workers' Party
(PKK) rebellion. In a recent incident in Sirnak province about
a dozen people were killed, and an unknown number wounded, when
a Turkish aircraft bombed a Kurdish village.
The European Parliament, in a strongly worded statement, has
condemned the arrests and demanded that the MPs be released
immediately. It also urged Turkey to recognise the right of
autonomy of the Kurdish population in Turkey. In response, Prime
Minister Tansu Ciller warned that she `would not allow
interference in our internal affairs', while the Foreign Ministry
dismissed the EP statement as `prejudiced'.
Independent 3 & 4.3.94, Balkan News 20.3.94.

Statewatch Vol 4 no 2, March-April 1994

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