JINHA

BITLIS -A Turkish local court has declared that March 8 billboards depicting German women socialist heroes depict "unidentified" PKK members.

Bannerscelebrating March 8, International Woman Day, hung on billboards in Bitlis province have been pulled down by the verdict of a local court. The court has labeled German Marxist political theorist Rosa Luxemburg and women's rights defender and German socialist Clara Zetkin "members of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) terrorist organization" in its justification for seizing the banners.

The Bitlis Public Prosecution Office initiated an investigation of the celebrations of March 8 prepared by the Congress of Free Womn (KJA). The court ruled that the banners should be seized,on the grounds that they depict "known members of the PKK/KCK organization" (Arîn Mîrxan, SakineCansız, LeylaŞaylemez, FidanDoğan and Kader Ortakaya) and "unidentified persons who are seemingly members of the organization": Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg.

Rosa Luxemburg passed away in 1919 and Clara Zetkin passed away in 1933—65 and 51 years before the first armed action of the PKK, respectively.

Because the banners were hung by the Bitlis municipal government, the city's principal clerk Özgür Oran has been summoned to Bitlis police headquarters to delivertestimony.

Özgürcalled the verdict"tragicomic."

"The signs were intendedfor March 8. We believe that the verdict of the court is intentional and a product of enforcement policies," said Özgür."The people there have appeared on placards, posters and billboardsmany times before, but there was never a problem."

(nt/fk/cm)