KurdistanObserver.com
Kurdish Singer on Trial in Turkey For Song
Praising Kurdish Leader
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey: A prosecutor on Tuesday
demanded that a Kurdish singer be sentenced to five years in prison for
performing a song that praises imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan,
the government-run Anatolia news agency reported.
Zulfu Kizildemir, also known as Xemgin Birhat, was detained in March after
performing his Kurdish-language song "Mezin Apo," or "The Great Apo," at a
spring festival traditionally used by Kurds to assert separatist demands. Apo is
short for Abdullah.
In the opening trial on Tuesday, the prosecutor asked that Kizildemir be
sentenced to five years in prison on charges of engaging in propaganda in favor
of Ocalan's banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
Kizildemir rejected the charges and said because he had lived in Germany for the
past 30 years, he was not aware of Turkey's anti-terrorism laws, Anatolia
reported.
The trial was adjourned until a later date, the agency said. Court officials
were not immediately available to confirm the report or give additional
information.
Ocalan is in isolation on a prison island in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul.
He led the insurgent Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, until Turkish agents
captured him in 1999 in Kenya, where he was seeking refuge.
He remains a symbol of Kurdish separatism and several Kurdish politicians are
being prosecuted for allegedly praising him in recent speeches.
The politicians say they are victims of a campaign against them ahead of general
elections in July when their Democratic Society Party seeks to circumvent the 10
percent election barrier by fielding independent candidates who would then
regroup as a party after winning seats.
The conflict between autonomy-seeking Kurdish guerrillas and the government has
claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people since the guerrillas took up
arms in 1984.
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in Turkey and are denied rights
granted to other minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently granted
Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and education in the Kurdish language, but
critics say the measures do not go far enough.
