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Kurdish politician risk 45 years Turkish prison

The European Parliament fully supports Leyla Zana

Ararat News –Publishing (ANP) - Roni ALASOR – 1/2/2009 / Brussels - The Kurdish politician and symbol for the Kurdish freedom, Leyla Zana has fully support by the European Parliament. Zana has been condemned by the Turkish Court of the First Instance to 10 years in jail for having asserted her Kurdish identity in nine speeches, notably in the European Parliament and in the House of Lords. The public prosecutor appealed and has called for 5 years' imprisonment per speech, in other words 45 years! But now all Presidents of the political groups in the European Parliament are supporting the Kurdish femin politician Zana and inviting her to the next meeting of the Presidency.

- I am delighted at the decision by the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament which adopted as its own the idea that I expressed: "we must consider this lawsuit against Leyla Zana to be a lawsuit against the European Parliament" said Francis Wurtz, President of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left Group in the European Parliament.

The former member of the Turkish parliament, the Kurdish politician Leyla Zana has been jailed by the Turkish state 1994 for more then 10 years for speaking and using Kurdish language in the Turkish parliament (TBMM).

According the statement by Wurtz, a discussion took place at the Conference of Group Presidents of the European Parliament, 29 January 2009, about the lawsuit against Ms Leyla Zana, winner of the EU`s Sakharov Prize. The unanimous decision by the Conference of Presidents is as follows:

- To invite Leyla Zana to a forthcoming meeting of the Conference of Presidents;

- To send an official European Parliament delegation to the attend the lawsuit against Leyla Zana at the Court of Appeal, on 31 March next in Ankara;

- To send a letter from the President of the European Parliament to the Commissioner in charge of membership negotiations with Turkey about this serious affair.

Last week Leyla Zana was in the European Parliament and held a speech in the Kurdish conference in 28 of January. She underlined that Turkey needs a democratic framework.

Zana thinks there are four mindsets in Turkey.

Four political mindsets

- The people who think they don’t need to reform and that the European Union needs Turkey.

- The Euroasian approach: Both leftwing, rightwing, Kurds and other ethnicities that think they should focus on Russia and China. (An example is Ergenekon).

- The Middle Eastern project: Some claim this is supported by Erdogan. This is a policy of - America to change the Middle-East.

- The intellectual society that really wants the EU accession process and want democratization.

Democracy academy

Leyla Zana said also with tears in her eyes that she might not be present at the EUTCC conference next year do to a prison sentence hanging above her head. “My whole life, whatever I said, I believed in it. Whatever they do to intimidate me or make me leave the country or how heavy the punishment is. I know there is a price for everything.”

Zana proposed to set up projects to bring Kurds into political life. “We have to establish a academy to realize peaceful politics to raise academic to that effect in the centre of Diyarbakir. Turks cannot do that alone by themselves.” Zana hopes this would contribute to peace in Turkey.