Turkey releases pro-Kurdish lawyer accused of 'militant propaganda'

A Turkish court on Tuesday released a top lawyer who had been detained in the majority Kurdish city of Diyarbakir for alleged "terrorist propaganda", local media said.
Tahir Elci, head of the bar in the southeastern city and campaigner for Kurdish rights, was held over an interview with CNN Turk last week in which he said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) "is not a terrorist organisation".

Being a "terror apologist" is a crime punishable by jail under Turkish law, and Elci was questioned by anti-terrorist prosecutors. The court then decided to release him, but banned him from leaving the country, media reports said.

Several high-level pro-Kurdish politicians gathered outside the courthouse where Elci was being questioned, while a group of lawyers rallied in Diyarbakir to protest his innocence, Dogan news agency said.

Elci claimed freedom of speech and told prosecutors he was the "victim of a lynching campaign," the reports said.

In the CNN Turk interview Elci sparked anger by saying: "The PKK is a political movement which has important political demands and which enjoys widespread support, even if some of its actions are of a terrorist nature."
The separatist PKK, which launched an uprising against the Turkish state in 1984 that has left over 40,000 people dead, is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The government began peace talks in 2012 with the imprisoned head of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, but the negotiations fell through in the run-up to the general election in June.

Since late July, Kurdish fighters had staged almost daily attacks against members of the security forces, shattering a two-year truce and killing more than 150 Turkish police and soldiers.

The government for its part claims to have killed more than 1,700 Kurdish militants in a controversial "anti-terrorist" bombing campaign targeting PKK bases in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey.

On October 10, the PKK announced a truce for the run-up to fresh elections on November 1, but clashes between the two sides continue in the southeast.

Elci said earlier Tuesday that his being detained "clearly shows the state of freedom of expression in Turkey today".

Source: AFP