Turkish court rejects Kurd retu

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

Subject: Re: Turkish court rejects Kurd return to parliament

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Turkish court rejects Kurd return to parliament
By Hidir Goktas

    ANKARA, Sept 12 (Reuter) - Turkey's constitutional court
rejected on Tuesday an appeal from disenfranchised Kurdish
members of parliament to be allowed to return to parliament.
    The ruling was seen as possibly endangering a planned trade
pact with the European Union.
    The court's chairman Yekta Gungor Ozden told reporters it
had rejected the appeal to backdate constitutional changes made
in July to return parliamentary status to the 13 members of
parliament from the Democracy Party (DEP).
    ``A decision has been taken by the majority of 10 votes to
one to reject the request,'' Ozden said.
    The Kurds lost their seats when the court outlawed the party
last year and eight of them were later imprisoned for up to 15
years for separatism and links to Kurdish guerrillas.
    At least two of the Kurdish lawmakers would have been
released from jail if the constitutional court had accepted
their appeal. Another court is expected to hear a judicial
appeal on the sentence later this month, their lawyers said.
    European Parliament members have strongly supported the
Kurds, suggesting their freedom could go a long way toward
approval of a customs union with the EU set to begin in January.
    Turkish officials expect the rights-conscious European
Parliament to vote on ratifying the pact in December.
    Feridun Yazar, a lawyer for some of the Kurds, said the
court's decision was not unexpected.
    ``They don't go by the laws but according to how they
feel,'' he told Reuters. ``(Yet) they want to get into the
customs union, how can that be?''
    A special security court jailed eight of the lawmakers last
December for separatism and ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK) rebel group. Two were released for time served.
    Almost 18,000 people have died in the Marxist group's
11-year-old fight for Kurdish independence or autonomy.
    Much of the evidence against them was based on statements
they made urging more rights for Turkey's estimated 10-to-15
million Kurds. The trial was criticised by Turkey's Western
allies.
    Another six Kurdish members of parliament fled to Western
Europe last year to escape possible prosecution and are now
active in a Kurdish parliament-in-exile, which is backed by the
guerrillas.
    France's ambassador to Ankara urged Turkey to make political
reforms to join the lucrative trade pact, under which trade
barriers on both sides are set to fall.
    ``The customs union is an agreement that also has political
overtones and this is why the agreement includes some norms that
Turkey also has to accept,'' Francois Doppfer said during a
conference in Istanbul on the customs union.
    Turkey could still get the go-ahead for the pact despite the
latest court ruling if it eases harsh legal restrictions on
Kurdish dissent, Western diplomats say.
    Prime Minister Tansu Ciller has repeatedly vowed to change
or scrap Article 8 of the anti-terrorism law, which outlaws
separatism.
    ``They have another chance with Article 8,'' lawyer Yazar
said.
Reut12:10 09-12-95

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service