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KHRP | Kurdish Human Rights Project

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Kurdish Human Rights Project: This is the legacy website of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, containing reports and news pertaining to human rights issues in the Kurdish Regions for 20 years.

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Gruber Prize

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KHRP to Speak at Seminar on Kurdish Language Rights
KHRP will speak at a seminar entitled ‘The Language Question: Influence on the “Kurdish Question” in Turkey, 2007-2009’ at Garden Court Chambers on 6 April.

Organised by the Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC) and the Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, the event will feature presentations by Robert Olson, Professor of Middle East Politics and History at the University of Kentucky, and KHRP Advisor on Women and Children’s Rights Margaret Owen.  Professor Olson has authored seven books and over 90 research articles on aspects of Middle Eastern history, and has focused particularly on the effects of Kurdish nationalism on the foreign and domestic policies of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Margaret Owen is also a member of the Bar Human Rights Committee and the Director of Widows for Peace through Democracy, which campaigns on behalf of women widowed by conflict, ethnic cleansing and violent insurgency.

Kurdish politicians in Turkey face prosecution and other forms of harassment for ‘offences’ such as publishing public information brochures in Kurdish or speaking Kurdish in official settings. Use of languages other than Turkish in the media is also strictly controlled. Despite the launch of the state-run Kurdish-language television channel TRT-6 earlier this year, privately-operated Kurdish-language broadcasters continued to face oppressive regulations and existing legislation appears to bar even TRT-6 from broadcasting educational or children’s programming in Kurdish. Such violations of language and cultural rights are also deeply intertwined with violations of other rights such as freedom of expression, freedom of association and democratic political representation.