GERMANY: FESTIVAL HELD IN SUPPORT OF TURKEY'S KURDISH MINORITY

Описание: (21 Sep 1996) Turkish/Nat

More than 40-thousand people have attended a festival in Germany in support of Turkey's Kurdish minority.

The all-day event in Cologne - billed as a "Peace Festival for Kurdistan" was a combination of music, dance and politics.

Gathering in this Cologne stadium, Kurds and their supporters from all over Germany came to listen to music, dance and muse over a political solution to the problems in Kurdistan.

More than 21-thousand people have died since Kurdish rebels began fighting for autonomy in Turkey's Southeast in 1984.

Organisers of the event called for equal rights for Turkish Kurds and the opening of a dialogue for peaceful coexistence in the region.

Referring to the recent fighting between fellow Kurds in northern Iraq, the President of the Kurdish parliament in exile attacked the way Kurds have been unable to work together for a united region.

SOUNDBITE: (TURKISH)
"It's a tragedy what is going on in south Kurdistan because there are two political parties which are fighting against each other. They have had time enough - some four years time - to build up a government there and control this region for themselves. We are very concerned about the present situation there and we have always asked and ask now for the Kurds to unite, be strong and to express the wish for a more powerful position."
SUPER CAPTION: Yasar Kaya, President, Kurdistan Parliament in exile

Police reported no problems during the event.

Parading their martyrs, people marched in the stadium, carrying banners of missing and dead Kurds.

Young people dressed in uniforms and carried the Kurdish military flag around the Cologne soccer stadium.

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