Tag Archives: recep-tayyip

Turkish TV cuts politician during speech in Kurdish

The head of a Kurdish nationalist party in Turkey addressed parliament Tuesday in the Kurdish language — which is illegal — prompting the national broadcaster to pull the plug on the live broadcast. In his address, Democratic Society Party leader Ahmet Turk began his speech in Turkish, addressing the value of a “multilingual culture” and decrying the fact that the Kurdish language is not protected under Turkey’s constitution. “We have no objection to Turkish being the official language, yet we want our demands for the lifting of the ban on Kurdish language to be understood as a humanitarian demand,” he said

Share

Turkish military denies link to illegal groups

The once-untouchable Turkish military again took to defending itself on its Web site, announcing Thursday that "the Turkish military has no connections with illegal organizations or criminals." The statement was released after a former police chief accused Turkey’s top army general of ordering him to create a secret counter-terrorism force charged with “cleaning out the interior of Turkey.” Ibrahim Sahin, a former officer in charge of police special operations, testified in an Istanbul court this week as one of scores of suspects accused of membership in a shadowy organization that plotted to overthrow the Turkish government.

Share