The MidEast News Source

Wed.September 27, 2006

Turkey Puts 56 Mayors on Trial for Aiding Kurds
The European Union is once again watching Turkey very carefully this week as Ankara puts on trial 56 mayors, who it alleges have been aiding the Kurdish separatist movement, the PKK. Turkey is hoping to join the EU, but several European capitals have expressed concern about human rights in Turkey. A court has begun hearing the case against the group of mayors who are accused of helping a Denmark-based Kurdish TV channel remain on air. Ankara says Roj TV is an organ of the PKK. The mayors could face up to 15 years in jail after they wrote to the Danish government calling for it to allow broadcasts to continue. Domestic Kurdish-language broadcasts hardly exist and are severely censored.