Istanbul - A parliamentarian with a pro-Kurdish party in Turkey was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in jail for spreading "propaganda" on behalf of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). A court in Diyarbakir, a city in Turkey's predominantly-Kurdish southeast, ruled that Aysel Tugluk, a member of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), has "spread the propaganda of a terrorist organization" in a 2006 speech. Tugluk's lawyers have said they will appeal the sentence.
The court's ruling could pose yet another challenge to the Turkish government's planned "democratization initiative," designed to give the country's Kurds increased cultural and political rights.
The DTP is currently facing proceedings in Turkey's highest court that could result in its being shut down. Several other of the party's parliamentarians have also been charged with supporting the PKK and are on trial.
Although members of parliament enjoy judicial immunity, a Turkish court recently ruled that the DTP members could be brought by force to testify at their trials.
As part of the government's expected initiative, eight fighters from the PKK's bases in the mountains of northern Iraq turned themselves over to Turkish forces last week, along with 26 Kurdish refugees from a camp near the Iraqi-Turkish border. The group was greeted at the border by a festive crowd of thousands.
Although more surrenders are expected, government officials have put a temporary halt to the returns after the celebratory return of the first group unleashed a nationalist backlash.
"It is impossible to accept last week's developments," Ilker Basbug, Turkey's top general, told reporters on Sunday.
