Tuesday October 27, 2009
Turkish soldiers kill five Kurdish rebels
TUNCELI, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish soldiers killed five Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels in one of the deadliest skirmishes since the government announced plans to address Kurdish grievances in July, sources said on Tuesday.
Separately, a court in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast, sentenced a senior lawmaker in the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), to 18 months in prison for spreading "terrorist propaganda."
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to expand Kurdish political and cultural rights in a bid to end the 25-year war with the PKK, but on Sunday criticised the return of a handful of fighters and their supporters after thousands turned up at the border with Iraq to welcome them back to Turkey.
The festive scenes could unleash a nationalist backlash to Erdogan's initiative amid opposition to an amnesty for PKK fighters. The government has thus far ruled that out but it remains a key rebel demand.
The clash late on Monday in which five PKK fighters were killed occurred near the border of Tunceli and Bingol provinces, a remote region in eastern Turkey, military sources said on condition their names were not used.
Operations against the PKK continued, and the army deployed more soldiers backed by helicopter gunships, they said.
In Diyarbakir, a court sentenced Aysel Tugluk, a member of parliament and a former DTP chairwoman, to jail for a 2006 speech she made that allegedly praised Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK's imprisoned leader.
"This is a sign that not all circles support this initiative," Tugluk's lawyer Fethi Gumus told Reuters by telephone. "Aysel called for peace and has said the PKK can contribute to the process."
Tugluk remains free while she appeals the ruling, Gumus said. She faces several other court cases for comments she has made, and the DTP faces a ban for alleged links to the PKK.
The European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, has criticised the dozens of court cases brought against the DTP, Turkey's biggest legal Kurdish party, and its members.
Erdogan launched his so-called Kurdish initiative, backed by the EU, to expand political and cultural rights for the country's estimated 12 million Kurds.
The reforms are aimed at helping end the separatist conflict that claimed more than 40,000 lives, mostly Kurds, since 1984.
(Reporting and writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Copyright © 2008 Reuters
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