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TURKEY - JUSTICE - KURDS - SELEK - DEMO

TURKEY - JUSTICE - KURDS - SELEK - DEMO
Turkish author Yasar Kemal talks with the media during a demonstration to support Turkish sociologist Pinar Selek at the entrance of a courthouse in Istanbul, on February 9, 2011. The dissident Turkish sociologist was cleared in a high-profile legal saga over a deadly blast in 1998 as the court on February 9 insisted on its former decisions to acquitt her, despite continous repeals of the high court. Selek, 39, known for her critical studies of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey and work with street children, risked the life sentence in the case. Currently living in Berlin, she did not attend the hearing. Selek was accused of helping separatist Kurdish rebels organize a powerful blast at the entrance of the historic Space Bazaar in Istanbul on July 9, 1998, which claimed seven lives and left 127 others injured. Selek over a phone interview with AFP welcomed the court decision as a victory against "a coalition of militarist and nationalist forces within the bureaucracy". AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC
BULENT KILIC / AFP