TURKEY: COURT TO TRY THREE CHILDREN FOR SINGING KURDISH

UNCLAS ADANA 000015 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TU PGOV PHUM PREL SUBJECT: TURKEY: COURT TO TRY THREE CHILDREN FOR SINGING KURDISH SONG REF: A) ANKARA 050: B) ANKARA 719 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: A Diyarbakir court has accepted an indictment against three local teenagers accused of spreading PKK propaganda by singing a Kurdish song at a music festival in San Francisco last October. The offending song, "Ey Rakip," is the national anthem of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq. The trial is scheduled to begin in June. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) As reported in ref a, in January a Diyarbakir prosecutor opened an investigation into the performance of the Children's Choir of Diyarbakir's Yenisehir Municipality. The choir group sang a number of songs at the San Francisco International Music Festival in October 2007, including the Kurdish the song titled "Ey Raqip" (Hey Enemy),the lyrics of which were penned in 1938 by poet Yunis Rauf, (AKA Dildar),an Iranian Kurd. While the song is the national anthem of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG),it is also generally popular among all Kurds and was adopted by the short-lived Kurdish Republic of Mahabad in 1946. ¶3. (SBU) The court has agreed to accept the indictment of the prosecutor, Ahmet Karaca, against three members of the choir, Servan Yilmaz (aged 15),Gokhan Ok (17) and Veysel Pamuk (15). There is no explanation currently as to why charges have not been filed against the 11 other children, or the choir directors. The indictment charges that the children knowingly "accepted singing the terrorist organization's [PKK] marching song" and concludes the youngsters are therefore guilty of spreading PKK propaganda, which is illegal under Turkey's anti-terror law and penal codes. Karaca requested that the children be tried in a secret session of the court, apparently a procedure that protects minors from public reaction to their testimony. According to the children's lawyer, Baran Pamuk, violation of article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law charge can carry a prison sentence of up to five years. The trial will commence on June 19, 2008. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: Turkish prosecutors' continued neuralgia towards expressions of Kurdish identity undercut the GOT's recent pledges to relax restrictions on Kurdish language broadcasting (ref b). And it goes without saying that this case has all the hallmarks of a public-relations fiasco for Turkey in the international media. END COMMENT. GREEN