Turkey frees group of Kurds

ANKARA, Turkey -- Four Kurdish former lawmakers were freed from prison yesterday and state television began its first broadcasts in Kurdish, both critical steps as Turkey faces European Union pressure to improve its human rights record.

Hundreds of people cheered as Leyla Zana, the best known of the four, was released from Ankara's Ulucanlar prison, with some supporters tossing flowers.

An appeals court ordered them freed after a lawyer for the group requested the release of Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Dogan, and Selim Sadak, pending a retrial.

''A new era is beginning in this country, a new page is being turned," Zana told reporters.

She became a symbol to many Kurds and Europeans for advocating nonviolent tactics to push for increased rights for Turkish Kurds. EU legislators had harshly criticized the imprisonment of Zana and her colleagues, saying their trial was unfair.

''This was the last bargaining chip in the hands of those who were seeking excuses in Turkey's EU bid," the Anatolia news agency quoted Justice Minister Cemil Cicek as saying. ''The Turkish legal system has done its part, now it's the others' turn."

In Brussels, the European Commission, which is to recommend to EU leaders this fall whether Turkey is ready to begin entry talks, welcomed the decision. ''Today's decision is a sign that the implementation of political reforms, which Turkey has been introducing in the past two years, is gaining ground," said EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen.

He said the commission had regularly asked Turkey to free the four.

Amnesty International welcomed the decision and said the four should not face a retrial.

''Today is not the day to fuel sad feelings or pain; today is the day for brotherhood and understanding," Zana said at the headquarters of the People's Democracy Party.

Eren Keskin, deputy head of Turkey's Human Rights Association, hailed the decision and said it was made ''because the EU wanted it."

The four were released hours after Turkey aired its first Kurdish-language broadcasts, transmitting short programs under reforms passed as part of the country's push to join the EU.

Until 1991, speaking Kurdish was outlawed in Turkey. Yesterday, state-run broadcaster TRT aired 30-minute programs in the most commonly used Kurdish dialect, Kirmanji. Broadcasts in another dialect, Zaza, will be aired on Fridays.

The court order and the broadcasts were no small steps for Turkey, which fought a 15-year war with separatist Kurdish guerrillas that killed 37,000 people, mostly Kurds. Turkish authorities had long said that allowing Kurdish education or broadcasts would promote separatism.

Zana incensed fellow legislators in 1991 when, after her election, she took the oath of office sporting a hair band of yellow, green, and red,colors used by Kurdish rebels on their flags. She also spoke Kurdish, defying a ban on using it in official settings.

The four were convicted in 1994 of supporting Kurdish separatism and collaborating with outlawed rebels. Defense lawyers questioned some of the evidence, in particular the testimony of a rebel informant who accused Zana of visiting a guerrilla camp but never testified in court.

Several EU lawmakers criticized the convictions, saying the court ignored defense demands to question witnesses. A retrial was held after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2001 that the four did not get a fair hearing.

The conviction was upheld, and Zana and the others were ordered to serve the rest of their 15-year prison sentences. But on Monday, an appeals court overturned that decision on technical grounds, setting a new trial date on July 8.

The former lawmakers have served 10 years in prison.