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news
headlines
Kurds
Draw up post-Saddam Constitution for Iraq
High-ranking
PKK Member Jailed For Three Years in Germany
Pro-Saddam
Fighters Attack Kurds
Statement
by Ministry of Industry and Energy (KDP) on Electricity Supply
Kurdish
leader Talabani in Talks With Saudi Officials: PUK
Ocalan
Ocalan: USA will make massacre
UN
Deal Leaves Iraq Kurds at Baghdad's Mercy
Kurds,
Secure in North Iraq, Are Cool to a U.S. Offensive
Political
Changes Reduce Kurdistan Honor Killings
Ladenite
Ansar Al-Islam Commits New Terrorist Act
Top
Court to Deliberate on HADEP Objections in Closure Case
Barzani
Meets PUK Delegation, Agreement on Electricity Issue
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Turkey's
Ecevit warns Islamists, Kurds pose "very serious" problem
AFP July 21, 2002 Embattled Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, facing early elections, warned Sunday that Islamist and pro-Kurdish political forces pose a "very serious" problem to the officially secular country. Ecevit, who is trying to delay early elections called after his majority in parliament collapsed, said the two movements could do well at the polls and that such a result would endanger the nation. "The Turkish system may face very serious problems," the prime minister told TRT state televison. Ecevit was referring to the opposition Justice and Development Party (AK), a rising political force which opinion polls last week said would come in first if elections were held now. The polls also showed the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP) the government claims is linked to Kurdish rebels who waged a 15-year armed campaign for self-rule, would get enough votes to enter the parliament. Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim but officially secular, and the army has in the past intervened to nudge Islamic parties out of office and clamp down on Muslim political movements.
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