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Article: Crackdown.(pollitical, religious, and social issues in Turkey as the 1999 election approaches )(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 13, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ANKARA
IT IS pre-election time in Turkey, so the country's secular-minded political establishment, egged on by the influential generals, has been busy battering its favourite targets: Kurds and Islamists. With local and general elections due on April 18th, Vural Savas, Turkey's hawkish chief prosecutor, last week began legal proceedings against the People's Democracy Party (HADEP), the largest legal party that seeks greater rights for the Kurds. In a 56-page indictment, Mr Savas told the Constitutional Court he had "irrefutable proof" that HADEP had "organic links" with separatist rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and had become a "recruiting ...