DTP speaks Kurdish in parliament, speaker says constitutional breach

The leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) gave a Kurdish speech in his address during the party´s parliamentary group meeting.....

Ahmet Turk announced during his parliamentary address that he would continue his speech in Kurdish "in the name of the brotherhood and beauty of the languages".   

Turk spoke Turkish for several minutes before switching. He said he was speaking Kurdish in recognition of the U.N. cultural body UNESCO´s International Mother Language Day this week to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

"Turkey must save itself from the shame of banning a tongue in this era," he said in Turkish.  "Everyone should understand that requesting an end to the ban on Kurdish is an extremely natural request," he added.

Turkish state television TRT cut the live Parliament TV broadcast of the group meeting of pro-Kurdish party DTP when Turk started speaking in Kurdish.

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A former deputy from a pro-Kurdish party had been jailed in 1995 for speaking Kurdish at an inauguration ceremony in parliament.

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The speaker however said Turk would not face penalties for defying the law.

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"This is a provocative move against the democratic reforms made by the government," he told CNNTurk.

But the main opposition party accused TRT of censorship.  

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The nationalist opposition party said both the parliamentary address made by the DTP leader and the launch of TRT 6 are wrong.

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http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/11073597.asp?scr=1

I love the way how parties reactions differ..

Addition: according to some Turkish sources,  an agreement between pkk and Turkey to bring down PKK from the mountains is very close

The plan includes an amnesty which will be implemented bit by bit (so that nationalists wont notice what is going on ) and leaders of pkk will be sent to EU countries..

I think, there might be some more political development after the coming elections..

Considering Pkk has declared a cease fire and ergenekon members are too busy with their own future, there is a place for optimism..

I hope they can agree and we see the end of this ugly war..

Ankara reticent but not dismissive of PKK amnesty

Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Özügergin said Turkish authorities have been assessing several measures to be taken against the PKK.

The government declined to comment yesterday on whether it would agree to grant amnesty to members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers´ Party (PKK) to pave the way for the terrorist group to lay down its arms but did not dismiss prospects for such a step either, leaving the amnesty option on the table.

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Efforts to bring the PKK members down from mountain hideouts have been held in secrecy ...

News reports have said officials from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani are engaged in talks with the PKK, negotiating a scheme under which the group will lay down its arms in return for an amnesty for its members over a certain period of time. The Taraf daily said yesterday that the Turkish military, which strongly opposed any dialogue with the Iraqi Kurds in the past, was also not raising any objection to such a scheme. ...

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=167905

This is perfect news.. 

What a shame that no one cared to respond to your article...

These indifferent bastards...

jiiiizzz....husss....

O oi. Stop insulting my country men by calling them bastards. There is still 301 there you know..

Are you saying you are going to break the code of honour and snitch on me to the authorities? I have got some dirt on you, too. if I am going down, you are coming with me...

he he 

do not worry..I have never done that ´giving to the authorites thing´ in my entire life.. I know what waits for them.

But i will always object the people calling my country men bastards..

 Well I have to agree with this....

 How you agree with that and according to which bases?

How many people are talking in Kurdish in Turkey? and how many talks in Turkish?

It was a damn provacative show for him to Talk in Kurdish, he would talk in Kurdish to the new TRT6 channel i have nothing against that, but if he is talking to a TV which is broadcasted in everywhere... no way...

It was a cheap show nothing else!

How do I agree with it?  It is called civil liberty.  How on earth can you justify banning a language?

Perhaps you think we should ban all the millions of Turks, Pakistanis, Indians, Chinese, Polish...etc. in the UK from speaking their own language too? 

 How can you come with this conclusion i never understand! Maybe you work too much?

Look girl, no body bans speaking kurdish for people and they already talk...  everybody speaks what they want...

but we talk about the minister of a political party and his show he makes in a place... where it has its own rules and stuff... you are choosen there to fix somethings... then you come up with solutions and alternative ways for also to be able to make your annoucements in Kurdish...

If you talk only kurdish there, you mean that you can only be a solution for people who knows kurdish... not for the rest...