Prosecution Of Kurdish Politicians In Turkey

EDM number 963 in 2010-12, proposed by Jeremy Corbyn on 04/11/2010.
Categorised under the topics of Middle East and Politics and Government.

That this House deplores the ongoing prosecutions of 151 Kurdish politicians and human rights defenders in Turkey for so-called terrorist offences; notes that they are but a small portion of approximately 1,700 Kurdish politicians arrested in Turkey since 14 April 2009; recognises that the imprisoned include seven elected mayors from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) with nearly 100 municipalities and 20 parliamentarians, as well as Mr Muharrem Erbey, lawyer and vice chairman of IHD, Turkey's largest and oldest human rights monitoring group; underscores that this indictment relies heavily on tapped telephone conversations, discussions recorded through remote listening technology and statements by secret witnesses; further notes that this criminalisation of peaceful political activism undermines prospects for a negotiated settlement to this conflict; considers the Turkish court's refusal of the detainees' request to deliver their defence in their native Kurdish language a violation of basic human rights and international law; and calls on the Government to exert pressure on Turkey to acquit the Kurdish politicians and human rights defenders on trial in Diyarbakir, to end its criminalisation of Kurdish political activism and to begin a comprehensive conflict resolution process involving all relevant Kurdish political actors.

This motion has been signed by a total of 25 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.