T U R K E Y
Since the foundation of the Turkish State in 1923, Turkey has refused to recognise the existence of a seperate Kurdish ethnic community within its borders. The problems of forced assimilation and repression continue today.
Even so, 15 million individuals of Kurdish origin presently live in the Republic of Turkey. Kurds have for decades been subjected to economic disadvantages and human rights violations which bear the hallmarks of systematic persecution intent on destroying the Kurdish identity by silencing the Kurdish language and other cultural expressions through violence or censorship.
Since 1984, the Republic of Turkey has faced insurgency at the hands of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). It is estimated that at least 20,000 lives have been lost in clashes between the Turkish security forces and the PKK. The civilian population of south-east Turkey has suffered particularly. Raids, carried out by the security forces on villages in the name of fighting terrorism have resulted in innocent villagers being subjected to interrogation and frequent torture, indiscriminate violence, and even death in custody.
In recent years there has been a dramatic increase
in the detention and prosecution of lawyers, human rights activists, parliamentarians,
trade unionists, publishers and journalists who have advocated a peaceful
solution to Turkey's Kurdish question.
A B O U T T U R K E Y
Turkey is an independent republic occupying a region, partly in Europe and partly in Asia, that has played a major role in world history as a bridge connecting East and West. European Turkey, is bounded on the north by the Black Sea and Bulgaria and on the west by the Aegean Sea and Greece.
It is separated from Asian Turkey by the Bosporus,
the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles Strait. It is bordered on the north
by the Black Sea; on the east by Georgia, Armenia, and Iran; on the south
by Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea; and on the west by the Aegean Sea.
P E O P L E
The people of Turkey are overwhelmingly Turks (about 90%) and Sunni Muslim (98%). About 3 million Kurds live in the eastern provinces, and several hundred thousand Arabs inhabit the Hatay enclave adjacent to Syria.
F U R T H E R I N F O R M A T I O N
LINK: Library
of Congress Federal Reserve Division: Turkey
