VOA: Germany/Kurds

[root at newsdesk.aps.nl]

From: newsdesk at newsdesk.aps.nl (Newsdesk Amsterdam)
Subject: Re: VOA: Germany/Kurds
Reply-To: root at newsdesk.aps.nl

------ Forwarded from : Haldun Haznedar <haldun at avalanche.micro.ti.com> --------

date=3/17/95
byline= Evans Hays

Intro: There have been more firebomb attacks in Germany directed
at Turkish targets. Police believe the attacks are the work of
Kurdish militants opposed to the government in Turkey. No
casualties were reported. The German parliament, meanwhile, has
approved an order from the federal interior ministry to begin the
immediate deportation of Kurds living in Germany who have sought
political asylum. VOA's Evans Hays in Bonn files this report.

Text: In several German cities there was yet another night of
violence, as Turkish businesses and cultural centers were hit by
firebombs. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks,
but police say they have little doubt that the violence has been
carried out by Kurdish extremists. And they fear there is more
to come.

There are more than two million Turkish residents in Germany, and
about 400-thousand of them are of Kurdish origin.

In Turkey, Kurdish militants are fighting to establish their own
homeland. They claim that Turkish authorities have been
persecuting and killing Kurds in the southeastern part of the
country.

Authorities in Bonn are worried that this conflict has now
spilled over into Germany and may get worse.

The Kurdish new year is to be celebrated next week. Police say
they believe the violence will begin this weekend in advance of
the new year celebration, which, in the past, has been the
occasion for trouble.

What makes matters worse now is an order from the German Interior
Ministry to begin the deportation of Kurds from Germany to
Turkey. The deportation was begun months ago, only to be halted
pending an official investigation into allegations that the Kurds
faced persecution or death on their return home.

The German government has decided that the allegations have no
merit and the deportations may now go ahead. The German
parliament on Friday voted in favor of the deportations.

But the Federal government view in Bonn is not shared by many
of the state governments controlled by the main opposition Social
Democratic Party. In those states, the deportation order is
likely to take a long time to enforce.

17-Mar-95 9:55 am EST (1455 utc)

Source: Voice of America

----------------------------- End forwarded message --------------------------

        -------------------------------------------------------
                * Activists Press Service (Newsdesk) *
                          newsdesk at aps.nl
                       !Power to the people!
         -------------------------------------------------------