Turkish Pro-Kurd Party Starts Conference In Tense Atmosphere
ANKARA (AFP) - The pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP) opened its conference in a tense atmosphere here Sunday, after a wave of arrests of its members which the party said was aimed at undermining the gathering.
Despite the arrests and the presence of around 2,000 police, more than 30,000 people gathered in the capital Ankara for the party's fourth congress since its formation in 1994.
Opening the conference, party President Ali Turan Demir said: "The State must give up its phobia of division," the news station NTV reported.
The party, which Ankara wants to ban for its alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, claims that more than 100 members had been detained.
On Saturday, HADEP deputy secretary general Ali Riza Yurtsever said: "For several days, our members have been victims of arrests and pressure of all kinds in order to reduce participation at our congress and it is an attack on free movement."
The president of HADEP's regional branch in Adana in southeast Turkey and eight colleagues were arrested Thursday. He and three others were released Friday. All eight face charges of "helping and propagating an illegal organization."
The arrests began on November 19th, when the party denounced the death sentence against the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.
HADEP won most mayorships in southeast Turkey, which is majority Kurdish, in 1999.
The European Union's program for Turkey's eventual membership published on November 8th said that Ankara should extend some rights to the Kurds.
The document upset Turkish politicians, and HADEP fears it may delay the recognition of any Kurdish rights.
