|
Turkey Bans Planned Peace Day Demo by Pro-Kurdish Party
ANKARA, Aug 28 (News Agencies) - Turkish authorities on Tuesday banned a planned demonstration, scheduled for September 1, by the country's main pro-Kurdish Party to mark "World Peace Day" because of fears it could spark disturbances, news agencies said.
The meeting "has been banned because it was deemed likely to lead to serious public disorder and cause unwanted incidents," an Ankara police statement said in an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report.
The statement also recalled that the Ankara hippodrome, the venue where the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP) planned to stage its gathering, would be used for official celebrations on August 30 to mark Turkish forces' victory in the war of independence against Greek forces in 1922.
"It would be difficult to pull back the military personnel and equipment deployed in the venue for Victory Day celebrations by September 1," it added.
Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen also said that the venue would not be ready by the planned date.
HADEP said in a written statement that it had lodged an appeal with a local court against the "unacceptable" ban, arguing that both justifications put forth by police were "unrealistic."
"The ban on the meeting... interprets as the prevention of political party activities which are essential elements of democracy," the HADEP statement said.
Earlier, a HADEP spokesman told AFP that the sole aim of the planned demonstration was to "reinforce the atmosphere of peace."
In 1981, the United Nations declared the day on which its general assembly opens its ordinary sessions as "World Peace Day".
This year's session opens on September 11 but Turkey nevertheless has decided it will mark "World Peace Day" on September 1.
Turkish authorities frequently take action against HADEP, detaining or jailing its members on suspicions of links to armed independence fighters who waged a 15-year campaign against Ankara for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey.
HADEP, which campaigns for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, denies the charges, but nonetheless faces a possible ban for alleged association with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Turkey's normally tense southeast region has been relatively calm since September 1999, when the PKK ended its armed campaign to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict following peace calls from its jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
|
