KHRP is deeply concerned by the reported kidnapping of three German nationals by the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The individuals, who were part of a 13-member climbing team on an expedition on Mount Ararat, Agri province, were reportedly taken hostage when five PKK fighters approached their camp on 9 July.

According to a statement by the PKK’s armed wing, the People’s Defense Forces (HPG), the incident is a response to alleged German policies against the Kurds and the PKK, and the hostages will not be released until these are fully renounced. The claims are likely to be related to the recent banning in Germany of the Kurdish satellite TV channel ROJ TV as well as a series of raids on Kurdish organisations in Germany. HPG was quoted as saying that the hostages are safe and in good health, calling on the Turkish authorities to stop any military action in the region which might harm them.

KHRP is pleased to announce that for the second time this year where it was the only international observer, trial proceedings that should never have been initiated have ended in acquittals.

On 3 July 2008, a Turkish court acquitted six members of a children's choir charged after singing a Kurdish song at a folk festival in San Francisco last autumn. Three other children charged in the same case had earlier been acquitted on 19 June.