Turkish police arrest 6 for sending Kurdish-language invitations

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkish police have arrested six teachers for sending out Kurdish-language invitations to a meeting in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast, a police official said on Wednesday.

Turkey is under pressure to ease its tight restrictions on Kurdish linguistic and cultural rights after being accepted as a candidate for European Union membership late last year.

But many here oppose such moves, fearing they could fuel nationalism and pave the way for a separate Kurdish state. Some 12 million of Turkey's population are Kurds.

Police in the regional capital Diyarbakir arrested the teachers, senior members of a teaching union, on Tuesday, and found documents praising the activities of Kurdish separatist guerrillas at the house of one, the police official said.

The teachers were arrested because they had sent out invitations for a celebration of World Teachers Day on October 5 written in both Turkish and Kurdish, he said.

"Publishing and distributing invitations in Kurdish is a crime under the law," he said.

Turkey declared victory last year in its 15-year fight against Kurdish rebels after capturing their leader, Abdullah Ocalan. Ocalan was sentenced to hang for leading an armed campaign for Kurdish self-rule that claimed over 30,000 lives and is now appealing the verdict.

He later ordered his followers to withdraw from Turkey and transform themselves into a political force in order to win cultural rights for the country's 12 million Kurds.

Turkey rejects the new rebel policy as a cynical ploy designed to save Ocalan from the gallows and has vowed never to negotiate with the guerrillas.

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