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| Europe |
| Kurdish editor gets 21 years over PKK links |
| 2010-02-11 |
| [Iran Press TV Latest] A Turkish court has sentenced the editor-in-chief of a Kurdish-language newspaper to 21 years and three months in prison on charges of spreading separatist propaganda. The court on Wednesday ruled that Ozan Kilinc had "disseminated the propaganda of a terrorist organization" by publishing reports and pictures on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its jailed leader in 12 separate issues of the Azadiya Welat (Independence of Homeland) daily in June last year. Kilinc, who also owns the newspaper, was found guilty of "committing a crime on behalf of the terrorist organization." The judges issued an arrest warrant for the chief editor, who was tried and convicted in absentia. Azadiya Welat, founded in 1994 as a weekly which turned into a daily in 2006, has often been the target of judicial action on grounds that it is a mouthpiece for the terrorist PKK group. The paper's previous editor-in-chief, Vedat Kursun, has been in jail for the past 13 months while being tried for spreading terrorist propaganda, praising criminals and aiding PKK militants. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, including Turkey, Iran, the US and European Union member states. More than 40,000 people have lost their lives since the militant group launched its armed campaign against Ankara in 1984, as part of a quest to establish an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey. Turkish fighter jets frequently shell PKK strongholds in northern Iraq, from where the militants launch attacks against Turkey. |
| Posted by:Fred |