Diyarbakir- Northern Kurdistan: Bedri Adanir the Kurdish publisher is tried for publishing 38 books confiscated in a search and also because he published articles in 4 issues of the Kurdish Hawar newspaper. Adanir, editorial manager of the Hawar daily, has been in detention for more than 4 months now and faces 50 years imprisonment.
The prosecutor of the 6th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakir, Adem Özcan, demands prison sentence of up to 50 years for Bedri Adanır, owner of Aram Publishing and editorial manager of the Kurdish Hawar newspaper. Adanır stands accused of membership the Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK), and spreading propaganda for the organisation.
Adanir published a book of Kurdish national imprisoned leader Mr. Abdullah Öcalan’s defences writings, made to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK) was founded in 1973 as the result of the continuous and systematic oppressions and the denial of the Kurdish nation by the occupying powers of Kurdistan. The PKK took up arm in 1984 since all the possible political and diplomatic means applied for 11 years in between 1973-84 proved exhausted. The PKK however declared its first unilateral ceasefire in 1993 since it believed the arm struggle hit its targets. Since 1993 to date the PKK has declared 6 unilateral ceasefires in 6 different occasions and called upon Ankara to solve the Kurdish problem in a peaceful democratic procedure.
Despite the facts that the PKK has declared 6 unilateral ceasefires and also it sent peace groups in two different occasions yet the PKK is considered as a ‘terrorist’ organization by Ankara and the US. It also continues to be on the blacklist in EU despite the court ruling, which overturned the decision to place the Kurdish freedom movement on the EU’s terror list “By labelling PKK as a terrorist organisation, the EU and the US are giving the Turkey a green light to target its civilians. They give the Turkish government a free hand to do what it will, a mother of Kurdish martyr said”.
It should be noted that after 1954, apart from the Korean war, 1949-52 and the invasion of Cyprus, 1974, the Turkish Army operations have continued to be exclusively against the Kurds.