KURDISTAN, — According to Firat News Agency the members of Kurdish peace groups that arrived at Turkey on 19th October upon the call from the Kurdish national leader Abdullah Ocalan are reported to go back to Southern Kurdistan (Northern Iraq).
Peace groups that came from both Qendil Mountain and Maxmur Refugee Camp are going back to Maxmur in Southern Kurdistan due to the pressure and prosecution they have been subjected to by the Turkish government.
Eight PKK members from Qendil and twenty six refugees from Maxmur Refuges Camp, including four children arrived at Turkey upon the call from the imprisoned Kurdish national leader Abdullah Ocalan. While they were initially released by the authorities in October they were on trial 8 months after they returned from exile.
The aim of sending the peace group back to Turkey was to show the sincerity of the PKK in solving the Kurdish conflict in Turkey. It was also a test for the Turkish state to show whether they really have a new approach to the problem as they promised.
Although the decision by the authorities not to prosecute the peace group, like it happened against the other Kurdish peace groups in 1999, it was seen as a gesture of reconciliation by the Kurdish side, and as a result the government’s approach soon became harder towards the PKK and Kurds.
Police used excessive and disproportionate violence against the Kurdish demos in which hundreds of Kurdish children were arrested, sent to prison and charged with terrorist crimes merely because of throwing stones to the police.
The group members are also charged with disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organisation and if found guilty, they face up to 20 years in prison.