Turkey deals death blow to Kurdish leadership with DBP conviction
Democratic Regions Party co-chair Kamuran Yuksek has been convicted of terrorism and sentenced in absentia to a lengthy prison term, while party officials decry insufficient evidence in "purely political” trial.
One of Turkey’s most promising young Kurdish politicians was sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison for a questionable terrorism conviction today. A court in the mainly Kurdish southeast region pronounced Kamuran Yuksek, the charismatic co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), a member of a terrorist organization.
The official was referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the militant group that has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule since 1984.
