Tweet
TOP COURT BACKS DECISION TO INVESTIGATE KURDISH INVITATION
Today's Zaman, Turkey
April 9 2007
The First Chamber of the Council of State has rejected an appeal from
Diyarbakýr Mayor Osman Baydemir to overrule permission from Interior
Minister Abdulkadir Aksu to launch an investigation into invitations
that used Kurdish expressions to invite officials to an arts and
culture festival in Diyarbakýr.
An invitation Baydemir sent to Diyarbakýr Chief Public Prosecutor
Huseyin Canan for the opening reception of the sixth Diyarbakýr Culture
and Arts Festival included Turkish and Kurdish letters, a violation of
the law on the Turkish alphabet according to prosecutors. Interior
Minister Aksu had given the green light for an investigation on
Nov. 28, 2006. Baydemir had objected to the minister's permission
and appealed to the court to overrule the decision to allow an
investigation. In his application for an appeal, Baydemir had
argued that in addition to the sentences in Turkish and Kurdish, the
invitation also included phrases in English and Armenian and asserted
that Kurdish had the same status as a foreign language as English and
Armenian. Baydemir put forward that under international conventions,
the Constitution, the law on municipalities and other provisions
of Turkish legislation the usage of Kurdish expressions next to
Turkish was legally appropriate. The First Chamber of the Council
of State sent the file to the Diyarbakýr Chief Public Prosecutor's
Office after it rejected Baydemir's appeal to nullify the interior
minister's permission to start an investigation.
--Boundary_(ID_VvHbfn+6do8+MN+0Oeh 0kg)--
Today's Zaman, Turkey
April 9 2007
The First Chamber of the Council of State has rejected an appeal from
Diyarbakýr Mayor Osman Baydemir to overrule permission from Interior
Minister Abdulkadir Aksu to launch an investigation into invitations
that used Kurdish expressions to invite officials to an arts and
culture festival in Diyarbakýr.
An invitation Baydemir sent to Diyarbakýr Chief Public Prosecutor
Huseyin Canan for the opening reception of the sixth Diyarbakýr Culture
and Arts Festival included Turkish and Kurdish letters, a violation of
the law on the Turkish alphabet according to prosecutors. Interior
Minister Aksu had given the green light for an investigation on
Nov. 28, 2006. Baydemir had objected to the minister's permission
and appealed to the court to overrule the decision to allow an
investigation. In his application for an appeal, Baydemir had
argued that in addition to the sentences in Turkish and Kurdish, the
invitation also included phrases in English and Armenian and asserted
that Kurdish had the same status as a foreign language as English and
Armenian. Baydemir put forward that under international conventions,
the Constitution, the law on municipalities and other provisions
of Turkish legislation the usage of Kurdish expressions next to
Turkish was legally appropriate. The First Chamber of the Council
of State sent the file to the Diyarbakýr Chief Public Prosecutor's
Office after it rejected Baydemir's appeal to nullify the interior
minister's permission to start an investigation.
--Boundary_(ID_VvHbfn+6do8+MN+0Oeh 0kg)--