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October 25, 2005
Today's Arrest Warrant Is Brought to You by the Letters "Q" and "W"
Is there anything the state won't attempt to regulate? Apparently not.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) -- A Turkish court has fined 20 people for using the letters Q and W on placards at a Kurdish new year celebration, under a law that bans use of characters not in the Turkish alphabet, rights campaigners said.
The court in the southeastern city of Siirt fined each of the 20 people 100 new lira ($75.53) for holding up the placards, written in Kurdish, at the event last year. The letters Q and W do not exist in the Turkish alphabet.
Under pressure from the European Union, Turkey has improved language and human rights for its Kurdish minority, but the EU says implementation has been patchy and loopholes remain.
The 1928 Law on the Adoption and Application of Turkish Letters changed the Turkish alphabet from the Arabic script to a modified Latin script and required all signs, advertising, newspapers and official documents to only use Turkish letters.
More than 30,000 people have been killed, most of them Kurds, since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels began an armed campaign for Kurdish self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Turkey, of course, is one of our government's allies in that part of the world. It's easy to see why.
Posted by Mike Tennant at October 25, 2005 09:14 AM
Comments
I believe I read somewhere that the Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world that doesn't have an independent home territory. The Jews used to have that "honor" until 1948.
People want to be with their own kind and not be punished for being what they are. I wish them well and I see no peace or justice in the parts of Turkey, Iran, and Iraq that have Kurdish majorities.
Ali
Posted by: Ali_Massoud ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.strike-the-root.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif){kind=small}
at October 25, 2005 05:27 PM
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