UCU, SOAS SU, EUTCC, Green MEP and Lib Dems MEP demand action on human rights in Turkey as Ms Zana is sentenced
Posted by KSSO in Campaigns, News on 05. Aug, 2009 | No Comments
The academics’ trade union UCU “has written to the Foreign Secretary David Miliband outlining our concerns about the imprisonment of Kurdish politician Leyla Zana by the Turkish authorities… On 28 July 2009 she was also given a 15 month sentence for a speech she made at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London on 24 May 2008. UCU is particularly concerned that the latest assault on Leyla’s freedom of expression stems from a speech made at a UK institution.”
Kurdish politician Leyla Zana jailed after SOAS speech
Posted by KSSO in News on 02. Aug, 2009 | No Comments
SOAS Vice Principal, Professor Nirmala Roa, said: “Our Principal has written to the Turkish Embassy asking for clarification about the charges being brought against Ms Zana.
“SOAS is committed to the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge. This can only be done effectively in an atmosphere of openness, mutual tolerance and intellectual freedom, without fear of intimidation or reprisal. For SOAS freedom of speech is paramount and the notion that people should be prosecuted for things said in an academic seminar at SOAS is deeply worrying.”
Kurdish Society at SOAS and KSSO condemn the sentence against Leyla Zana
Posted by KSSO in Campaigns, News on 01. Jun, 2009 | 2 Comments
The Kurdish Studies and Student Organisation (KSSO), is an umbrella organisation of UK-based Kurdish student societies. We aim to work with UK educational institutions and university communities to support and promote research on, about or by Kurdish peoples. KSSO has no political affiliations and aims to act as a neutral platform of intellectual debate on Kurdish matters.
We have invited many professionals and academics to give talks on varied subjects on the Kurdish language, culture, media and minority rights in the Middle East. We have also organised a number of seminars on the participation of Kurdish women in the cultural, social and political life in their homeland and in Diaspora. One of our guests was Ms Leyla Zana, a prominent Kurdish politician from the Northern Kurdish Region (Turkish Kurdistan) and Prof. Mary Davis of London Metropolitan University to talk about a peaceful, political solution on Turkey’s Kurdish question.
