Kurdish Politicians Face Prison Sentences For Using The Expression "PKK Guerillas"

The Prosecutor of the 4th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakır, Mustafa Şahin, demanded punishment of Osman Baydemir, mayor of the Diyarbakır province in the eastern Turkey, and Nejdet Atalay, head of  the Diyarbakır branch of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), for describing the members of the Kurdistan Workers Party as “guerillas”.

The prosecutor demands trial of Baydemir and Atalay under article 7/2 of the Anti Terror Law, which punishes “doing propaganda for a terrorist organization”.

The defense has until February 24

The accusation came after a meeting held in front of Municipality’s Guest House on February 25, 2008 to protest the Northern Iraq land operation of the Turkish Armed Forces.

Judge Hüsamettin Otçu gave the suspects and their lawyers until February 24, 2009 to prepare their defense against prosecutor’s opinion.

Suspects: It cannot be solved with the policies of the state

Stating that the speech in the indictment belonged to him, suspect Baydemir said, “When I was making this speech my purpose was to make a critique and state both my expectations and hopes in order to help end the suffering in the country. I was not trying to commit crime. My goal was to express my sorrow for the deaths of the police officers, the soldiers, the civilians and the guerrillas.”

Similarly, Atalay also stated that his aim was not to commit crime.

According to article 7/2, “A person who does propaganda for a terrorist organization is sentenced  from one and five years. If the offense is done through the media then the sentence is increased by half.” (EÖ/TK)