Sum of the week (1): not much progress at KCK Trial

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It is hard to see much progress in slow-motion Turkish judiciary, especially when the trial is big. KCK trial looks like Ergenekon Case in terms of scale and political motivations and the first week passed by only reading the summary of Indictment…

Court Dismissed Request for Defence in Kurdish

from Bianet :: English
The Diyarbakır 6th High Criminal Court rejected the request of the KCK trial defendants for the permission to present their defence in Kurdish as their mother tongue. The 7,500-page indictment will not be read out as a whole but in a summarized version.

Eyes on the trial, ears on İmralı

by ORAL ÇALIŞLAR – RADIKAL
The eyes of Diyarbakır are on the trial of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the alleged urban extension of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK), while its eyes are on the messages that come from İmralı, where PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is serving a life sentence.

Monitoring the KCK trial

by BERAT ÖZIPEK – STAR
Some expected operations targeting the KCK would ?open the way before the Kurdish initiative.? But this did not turn out to be the case. Photos of mayors showing their hands handcuffed hurt Kurds and damaged the atmosphere for a solution because it was not easy to shake hands when one is handcuffed.

Rejection of Kurdish Defence Provokes Legal Action

from Bianet :: English
MAZLUMDER President Ünsal criticized the court board of the KCK trial in Diyarbakır for “misconduct of office” because they refused permission for a defence in Kurdish. Ünsal demands an administrative and criminal investigation about the court board.

Defence Lawyers Disapprove of Police Presence

from Bianet :: English
Tensions arouse in the third hearing of the KCK trial in Diyarbakır. The defence lawyers criticized the presence of plain-clothes police officers in the courtroom and the installation of a police cordon between the defendants and their lawyers.

FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK – Is the KCK trial politically motivated?

The trial of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), the alleged urban extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK), in which 151 individuals, including mayors and politicians, are standing as suspects at a Diyarbakır court, is one of the hot topics on the country?s agenda these days.

EMRE USLU – Fact and fiction about the KCK

Since April 2009, more than 1,500 Kurdish politicians, activists, lawyers and NGO workers have been jailed for alleged links to an organization called the People?s Confederation of Kurdistan (KCK), which Turkish authorities claim is an urban wing of the PKK. With the beginning of the trial this week the Turkish press started publishing articles about the KCK.

LALE KEMAL – Turkey?s paradigm shift on Kurdish question and KCK trial

Turkey has only recently reached a point of political maturity in using nonmilitary means in the 26-year-long fight against terror. It was little more than a year ago that a democratic opening process has been launched in an attempt to deal with the difficult question of addressing the Kurdish problem politically, thus, lessening the violent activities of the Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK). The democratic opening process has, however, so far failed to yield tangible legal arrangements to ease Kurdish grievances such as education in one?s mother tongue. We have to bear in mind that the basic cause of the Kurdish question is the denial of education in the mother tongue.

Koma Civakên Kurdistan Redux

from Mavi Boncuk by M.A.M

The Diyarbakır 6th High Criminal Court continued hearing suspects in the trial of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the alleged urban extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK). The trial began on Monday with 151 suspects, including mayors and politicians, and approximately 300 lawyers, along with many local and foreign observers closely following the case. Security was tight around and on the way to the courthouse. Lawyers, journalists, relatives of the suspects and foreign observers were frisked before entering the building. A total of 110 suspects — 104 of whom are currently jailed — participated in yesterday?s hearing. The total number of people indicted is 152.

The suspects are being accused, in a 7,578-page indictment, of attempting to disturb the unity of the state, membership and leadership in a terrorist organization and aiding and abetting a terrorist organization, for which they face jail sentences ranging from 15 years to life without the possibility of parole.

Southeast Turkey A Temporary, Difficult Refuge : NPR

by Peter Kenyon

October 19, 2010

Southeastern Turkey, wedged between Iran and Iraq, is where the bright blue waters of Lake Van wash up against some very contested territory. Over the centuries the area was conquered by the armies of the Armenians, the Persians, the Ottomans and finally the Turks.”

Changing the constitution to solve the Kurdish question

by istanbulnotes

The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) has published a report detailing the kind of constitutional and legislative changes it believes would be required if the Kurdish question is to be resolved.* Given the likelihood that work on a new constitution for Turkey will begin soon, the report?s constitutional proposals are of particular interest. These are summarised in the table below, with the current text of the constitution is in the left-hand column, the TESEV recommendations in the right. In most cases, the report doesn?t settle on a single alternative but provides a number of options as a spur to further debate.

PKK leader warns may end Turkey cease-fire – Arab News

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