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German GUE/NGL MEP Jürgen Klute on the ongoing detention of two former MPs from Turkey, Remzi Kartal and Zubeyir Aydar, both arrested during a Belgian police raid on March 4th:

Ararat News –Publishing (ANP) – Fiona Lorin (Paris) and Robin Alan (Brussels) – 13 / 3 / 2010 -The arrest of the two former Kurdish MPs Mr. Remzi Kartal and Mr. Zubeyir Aydar is facing reactions also in European Parliament. GUE/NGL Political Group is planning now to bring the debate in EP. They will ask for fact and juridical reasons of mass arrest of Kurdish politicians and journalists.

To:
-The public
– EUTCC
-European Union Parliament
-International organizations for defending freedom of speech.
-All European Parliaments
– All organizations of Defending Kurdish cultural rights
-Reporters without Borders.
-All organizations of defending freedom of speech.
2010-03-05

Following a series of crackdown operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, Turkey has requested the extradition from Belgium of two senior members of the organization.

The Belgium government have organized a raid on the ROJ TV, which has spectators from all four parts of Kurdistan as well as the kurds living abroad, and made an operation against the KNK. This attack, which has been directed against the identity and free will of the people of Kurdistan, is a continuation policy of Europe to sacrifice the Kurdish people for their political and economical interests. We condemn the state terror against the ROJ TV, which is targeted the voice of the kurdish people as well as the people and their cultures in the region, the KNK, and other Kurdish institutions. The Government of Belgium’s detention of the Chairman of the Kongra-Gel, which is the Parliament of Kurdish People, the other kurdish politicians and diplomats in this operation, is an attack nothing more than to offend and defamation of the Kurdish people. The Government of Belgium must put an end to these attacks and should release those detained immediately.

At 5am this morning, the offices of ROJ TV were raided by the Belgium along with several other addresses in Belgium. 30 people were arrested including Mr Remzi Kartal, Mr Zubeyir Aydar and Mr Eyep Duru. Though we understand that ROJ TV has not been closed down none of the journalists have yet been allowed back into the building and transmission has ceased for the time being. ROJ TV is the mouthpiece of the Kurdish community in Europe and is seen as a beacon of hope for all those who seek the resolution of the Kurdish Question.

From March 1st through the 14th 2010, the photo exhibition by Yuri Ivashchenko, The Uprooted, will be taking place at the Museum and Public Center A.D Sakharov.

Tens of thousands of people throughout Turkey once again denounced the Feb. 28, 1997 unarmed military coup d'état on its 13th anniversary with mass rallies, calling for an end to the influence of the postmodern coup, which was intended to last for “a thousand years.”

"Until now the leaders of Turkey have approached this problem by denying, suppressing, eliminating and assimilating. The current AKP government is continuing this same policy using more refined methods. Their primary aim is the suppression and elimination of the Kurdish Freedom Movement and the assimilation and Turkification of the Kurdish People. This is still the policy in practice…"