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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.
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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.

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