Kurdish Politician Leyla Zana

EDM number 341 in 2008-09, proposed by John Austin on 17/12/2008.
Categorised under the topics of Asia and Human rights.

That this House strongly condemns the unfair trial, conviction and sentencing of the Kurdish politician and former DEP MP, Leyla Zana in Diyabakir Court, on 4 December 2008, under the Turkish Penal Code and the anti-terror law for comments which she made in nine speeches; recalls that Leyla Zana had previously been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and spent 10 years in gaol following a trial subsequently declared unfair and unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights and that one of the crimes of which she was accused and convicted was having used the Kurdish language in the Turkish Parliament; notes that she is acknowledged across the free world as a courageous fighter for the human rights of the Kurdish people, including their freedom of speech, assembly and of association, all of which are rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, of which Turkey is a signatory; further recalls that she was awarded the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament in 2005 for her courage and integrity; and calls upon the Foreign Secretary to make known the revulsion of this House at this breach of Turkey's commitments in the context of the Copenhagen Criteria and this House's concern at current interpretations of the Turkish Penal Code and the unjust use by the Turkish authorities of Turkish anti-terror laws to target Kurdish politicians, which casts doubt on the sincerity of the assurances given by the Turkish government in support of its application to join the European Union.

This motion has been signed by a total of 32 MPs.