Despite Protests, Turkish Court Jails Kurdish Leaders

A Turkish court sentenced eight elected ethnic Kurdish leaders to between 3 1/2 and 15 years in prison Thursday, ignoring concerns expressed in the United States and the West that they were being jailed merely for expressing their views on Kurdish rights.

The military-dominated state security court in the capital, Ankara, accepted secret wiretaps and speeches to find six of the defendants guilty of working for the rebel guerrillas of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. Two others were sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail for making separatist statements. They were the only two to be released pending an appeal.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Christine Shelly said the Clinton Administration is “deeply concerned” about the verdicts.

“These heavy sentences are shocking, incomprehensible. These sentences will not help Turkey’s image abroad or its integration with Europe,” one Western ambassador in Ankara said.

Diplomats said the trial will probably not divert European Union governments from concluding negotiations on a 1996 customs union with Turkey. But the European Parliament has already suspended ties with Turkey over the issue.