"KCK Case A Peculiar Example on Language Rights"

The massive case against Kurdish politicians and rights activists, who are tried for 'being members to the urban organization of the Kurdish rebel group PKK, the KCK', is still stuck following its 27^th sitting yesterday in Diyarbakır.

Following the court's decision to restrain defendants from using their mother tongue Kurdish, defense lawyers withdrew from the case and the Diyarbakır Bar Association declined to assign any lawyers. The court postponed the case to August 25^th and will consider moving the case to another city.

With more than 2 thousand defendants, the case is one of the biggest in Turkey's history. Lawyer and rights activist Ergin Cinmen argues that the case clearly depends on political motives.

He notes that the investigation against the defendants has been conducted by the police and by judges with special authorities. All in all, he concludes that the case is forced to block a peaceful solution to the decades-long Kurdish issue.

"Elected mayors, lawyers that deal with rights violations and prominent intellectuals of the region are charged in this case."

He says that the court's decision to disallow defense in Kurdish clearly contradicts national and international legislation. "Such an attitude should have been left in the past. A state owned TV channel broadcasts in Kurdish yet the judges continue to define Kurdish as 'an unknown language'. Code of Criminal Procedure states that the defendants can defend themselves in the most convenient language and the Lausanne Treaty also secures this right."

State's failure to allow a group of its citizens to use their mother tongues in courts could cause Turkey to be condemned in the European Court of Human Rights, Cinmen says.

He was among the lawyers who had visited a group of defendants in prison in mid-July. "None of them thinks they have done anything against the law," he quotes.

He holds the government responsible from the situation and adds that under such circumstances it would be impossible to make progress in the Kurdish issue. (EKN/EÜ)