Turks protest in Istanbul against peace talks with Kurdish PKK rebels

[Kurdistani4ever]

February 24, 2013

ISTANBUL,— Hundreds of Turks staged a demonstration in Istanbul on Sunday in protest at the resumption of peace talks with Kurd rebels, saying they sullied the memory of soldiers killed in the near three-decade conflict.

"We want respect for Turks," "We want respect for the martyrs," the demonstrators chanted.

The protest was held a day after three Kurdish lawmakers visited Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), at his island prison, the second such visit since the peace negotiations resumed late last year.

"Hang this bastard Ocalan," the Istanbul crowd chanted, according to an AFP correspondent.

Some demonstrators made hand gestures associated with extreme right-wing group Grey Wolves and demanded that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamic-leaning party leave office.

Turkey's secret services resumed negotiations with Ocalan with the ultimate aim of ending the PKK's fight for autonomy in the Turkey's Kurdish region in the southeast.

Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a Kurdish state in the south east of the country. By 2012, more than 45,000 people have since been killed.

But now its aim is the creation an autonomous region and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who constitute the greatest minority in Turkey. A large Turkey's Kurdish community, numbering to 25 million, openly sympathise with PKK rebels.

PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees, lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish constitution.

Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish language and private Kurdish language courses with the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish politicians say the measures fall short of their expectations.

The PKK is considered as 'terrorist' organization by Ankara, U.S. The PKK continues to be on the blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which overturned a decision to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its political wing on the European Union's terror list.

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, AFP | Ekurd.net | Agencies

 

[Kurdistani4ever]

And they claim, we are against a peaceful solution?

 

[FckingAmazing]

good demogogy ) you don't want peace you wanna kill babies , you are a supporter a terrorism .. go be together with goats or sheeps as u prefer ..

 

[Kurdistani4ever]

good demogogy ) you don't want peace you wanna kill babies , you are a supporter a terrorism .. go be together with goats or sheeps as u prefer ..

Why should we kill civilians? Lol, notice how it's Turks being against these peace talks. Kurds wanna end this with a deal on autonomy, you are desperate to crush any form for power gaining to us. You don't want peace, don't you see it? Turks don't wanna let us have our rights to freedom.