The mayor of Batman, a province in the predominantly Kurdish south-east of the country, Nejdet Atalay, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison. Atalay was convicted on Monday (22 November) because he called Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) "respectable" and "the leader of the Kurdish people".

The Diyarbakır 4^th High Criminal Court based its verdict on an interview Atalay gave to a local newspaper in Batman last year. He was charged with "spreading propaganda for the PKK organization".

According to Günlük newspaper, Atalay did not attend the final hearing but was represented by his lawyer Mustafa Yıldız. The court found Atalay guilty of a violation of Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (making propaganda for illegal organizations) and sentenced him to 2.5 years in jail.

Lawyer Yıldız announced that they were going to appeal. "If the decision should be approved, we will apply to the European Court of Human Rights", he declared.

Şerif Gençdal sentenced as well

At the same time, Mehmet Şerif Gençdal, spokesman of the Group for a Peaceful and Democratic Solution (of the Kurdish question), received a 20-month prison sentence under the same allegations.

The same court again found the defendant guilty of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization". The allegations in this case stemmed from a speech Gençdal gave in Cizre after he had entered the country from northern Iraq via the Habur check point. Günlük newspaper reported that Gençdal and his lawyer Ferda Miran had not been notified of the date of the hearing and thus were not able to appear at court.

2,473-year prison sentence pending for BDP members

554 police records have piled up in relation to 19 deputies of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) by reasons of speaking Kurdish in parliament and seeking a democratic and peaceful solution for the Kurdish question. The BDP members are facing imprisonment of up to 2,473 years in total.

The former co-chairs Ahmet Türk and Aysel Tuğluk of the banned Democratic Society Party (DTP) are facing prison sentences of up to 139.5 years in total. After the Constitutional Court decided for a ban of the pro-Kurdish political party, the status as members of parliament was lifted for the former DTP members, including Türk and Tuğluk.

Emine Ayna, BDP deputy of Mardin (south-eastern Anatolia), is one of the party's parliamentarians with the highest number of police records. The prison threat she is currently facing amounts to a total of 335 years based on 69 police records. She is closely followed by Özdal Üçer, deputy of Van (south-eastern Turkey) with 57 records and the Şırnak deputy Sevahir Bayındır. (EÖ/VK)