Exiled Kurdish politician arrives in Turkey

Wheelchair bound, 76-year-old Kurdish writer and intellectual Yasar Kaya, toucheddown in Ankara's Esenboga International Airport on Thursday after a two decadeexile in Germany.Kaya, who founded the pro-Kurdish, Democracy Party in 1993 - banned a year laterby the Turkish government - was welcomed by his wife, Yurda Alaca and daughterBerivan Kaya."My husband's health is not good. He has always been a freedom fighter. He nevertook up arms. His name appeared on an unidentified murders list and he had to goabroad only because he was leading a political party.""We are waiting for peace, and fortunately there have not been any martyrs sincelast year. We hope the solution process will succeed," said Alaca.An Ankara court recently lifted the arrest warrants for other Democracy Partymembers, 68-year-old Yusuf Serhat Bucak and Serafettin Kaya (believed to be in hismid seventies). Bucak is suffering from leukemia, while Kaya has a heart condition.Warrants were lifted on condition that Kaya testifies before the court within threemonths. This is what he did right after his arrival, which now makes him immunefrom being charged again in connection with the Democracy Party, according toArticle 246 of the Turkish Code of Criminal Procedure.Six Kurdish Democracy Party deputies were arrested in 1994 and sentenced to 15years in prison.In 2002, the European Court of Human Rights held the Democracy Party'sdissolution to be contrary to Article 11 of the European Convention on HumanRights (freedom of association).