STRASBOURG, France - Turkey should use the return of relative peace to the impoverished southeast of the country to improve minority rights for the region's Kurds, a European rights body said on Tuesday.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) said in a report that reduced tensions in the area constituted "an ideal opportunity for a more open attitude towards cultural and linguistic plurality within Turkey."
It said the areas where change was most urgently needed included the teaching of minority languages in schools, the possibility of broadcasting in languages other than Turkish, freedom of association and religious education.
ECRI is a body of the Council of Europe, a 43-nation rights watchdog of which Turkey is a member. Its report was based on a visit to Turkey by an ECRI team last November.
Clashes between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish separatist guerrillas have subsided since rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, captured by Turkey in 1999, has ordered his followers to pursue cultural rights through political means.
Since Ocalan's capture, some 5,000 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters have withdrawn into northern Iraq and Iran.
Southeast Turkey has been blighted by more than 16 years of armed conflict that has claimed 30,000 lives.
Ocalan has been sentenced to death for treason. He is challenging the verdict before the European Court of Human Rights.
04:58 07-03-01
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