bill cobbett wrote:Well let's get back to Turkey and have a look at the terrorist crimes.... , of one of the banned from standing in elections Leyla Zana
Her great act of terror was to speak this sentence in Kurdish on taking the oath to the Turkish Anything But A Parliament...
"I take this oath for the brotherhood between the Turkish people and the Kurdish people."..
Sentenced to 10 years.
Amongst her achievements and awards...
She was recognized as a Prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
In 1994 she was awarded the Rafto Prize
in 1995, was awarded the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament.
In 2001 the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Turkey after a review of her trial, ruling Turkey had violated her rights of free expression.
She co-founded the Democratic Society Party in 2005.
In 2008, thrown in to prison again for daring to speak her mind, charged with "terrorism" (pollocks)... for saying in a speech..
"Kurds have three leaders, namely Massoud Barzani, Celal Talebanî and Abdullah Ocalan."[3] Massoud Barzani is the president of the Kurdistan federal region in Iraq, Celal Talabani is the ethnic Kurdish president of Iraq, and Abdullah Ocalan is the imprisoned Kurdish leader of PKK in Turkey ."
In 2008, Zana was sentenced to another 10 years in prison by the Turkish court. The court ruled that she had violated the Turkish penal code and the Turkish anti-terror law in nine different speeches.
In 2009 sentenced to further fifteen months for a speech she had made at the Uni of London.... a speech in London!!!!!!!!!!
In 2010 again sentenced to further 3 years.
... all this woman has done is to show the courage of her convictions, to express her views and to do so peacefully!!!!!!!!!!!!
EU says PKK is terrorist and Zana says she s part of PKK. Which part don't you get dumby?