Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk, independent Deputy for Van, was handed down a two-year prison sentence on the grounds of "making propaganda for a terrorist organization" in one of her speeches. The charges stem from a speech she delivered on 17 March 2010 in the Yüksekova district of Hakkari, a Kurdish-majority province on the south-eastern tip of the country.

The correspondent investigation was run by the Special Authority Public Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Van. The related trial was heard before the Van 3^rd High Criminal Court.

As reported by the ntvmsnbc.com news website on Tuesday (2 August) , Tuğluk said in a statement after the final hearing, "What does a politician do? A politician talks and declares her opinion".

Tuğluk continued, "This may disturb others. People must be able to talk about everything very openly and clearly unless violence is included. If we had been able to talk about the Kurdish question in this country 15 to 20 years ago things would have developed very differently. Perhaps we would not have experienced that much suffering. I am being punished for a speech in which I called for peace as a politician. What did I say in that speech? Did I say that Öcalan [imprisoned leader of the armed outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party] should be addressed? The state itself is talking to Abdullah Öcalan. Is it a crime that I talked about Öcalan's status?" Tuğluk criticized.

She went on, "It is said that Turkey is changing but if we encounter this when we express different opinions in this country we have to ask the Prime Minister who talks about freedom of thought what kind of democracy that is". (YY/VK)