Pro-Kurdish mayors jailed for 10 mths for PKK propaganda in Turkey

The court ruled that Osman Baydemir, mayor of Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeastern region, and Nejdet Atalay, mayor of nearby Batman, had praised terrorist PKK members by referring to them as "guerrillas."

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The defendants made the remarks at a rally in Diyarbakir in February 2008, as Turkish security forces were carrying out cross-border operation into neighboring northern Iraq targeting hideouts of the PKK.

 

Lawyers for the defendants said they would appeal the sentences.

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Baydemir had condemned the operation and called for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue, saying that "neither soldiers nor guerrillas should die."

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The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, and Turkish authorities consider the use of the term "guerrilla" as an expression of support and praise for the terrorists.

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The DTP, to which Baydemir and Atalay belong, is currently being tried by the Constitutional Court for suspected links to the PKK, and faces the risk of closure.