Turkish court jails Kurdish editor for 3 years

Vedat Kursun, who faces a combined sentence of 525 years in prison in 103 cases on similar charges, was convicted in connection with two stories that appeared in the daily in August 2007.

Kursun was editor-in-chief at Azadiya Welat until he was jailed more than a year ago for disseminating propaganda on behalf of the illegal Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Emin Yildirim, an editor at the newspaper.

The paper has replaced its top editor six times since 2006 because they have been jailed or fled the country to avoid imprisonment, Yildirim said, estimating that prosecutors have opened 200 or more cases against the five former editors.

Kursun told the penal court in Diyarbakir that the news stories were not meant as propaganda.

The same court sentenced Kursun's successor Ozan Kilinc to 21 years in prison on Feb. 11 for printing what it called PKK propaganda.

Azadiya Welat's website on Tuesday showed pictures of Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK's jailed leader, and militants. It also featured a column attributed to Cemil Bayik, a top PKK militant.

Yildirim denied the newspaper promoted the PKK's message. Some of the charges against the editors stem from advertisements or announcements taken out by readers and at least two cases were due to faulty translations, he said.


/World Bulletin/