Antigoni Papadopoulou, member of Dimokratiko Komma (DIKO – Democratic Party), member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, tabled a parliamentary written question to the EU Commission about the prison sentence handed down to Labor Democracy and Freedom Block Independent MP Leyla Zana for "committing crime on behalf of an illegal organization despite not being a member of it" and "making propaganda for an illegal organization".
The parliamentary question was answered by EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Mr Stefan Füle (in charge also of the EU-Turkey Accession talks), on behalf of the European Commission.
Füle criticized Turkish court’s sentence, handed down for nine separate speeches Zana MP made in 2007-2008, and remarked that the sentence was deemed "alarming" by the European Parliament. "The EU sees freedom of expression as a basic value to be protected in line with Turkey’s fight against terrorism which the EU supports as well", Füle said and underlined that Turkey didn’t distinguish between "thoughts and violence".
Turkey should address the courts' wide interpretation of "terrorism" and make a clear distinction between violence incitement and thoughts.
ANF / BRUSSELS
Leyla Zana on Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyla_Zana
Profile of Leyla Zana from the Diwaniyya TV show in Israel http://diwaniyya.blogspot.fr/2012/03/spotlight-on-leyla-zana.html
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