In a letter to the editor of the UK Independent daily,...

In a letter to the editor of the UK Independent daily, MP Ann Clwyd wrote: "Along with other members of the All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group, I am encouraged by the recent legislative reforms in Turkey, which pave the way for the abolition of the death penalty and the granting of language rights to the Kurdish minority. It is hoped these reforms will lead to significant and concrete improvements in the human rights situation within the country. I trust also that the more progressive climate will result in the Turkish Government reviewing, as a matter of urgency, the cases of Leyla Zana and her fellow MPs of Kurdish origin, imprisoned since 1994 despite the European Court of Human Rights having ruled their trials were unfair and that Turkey had violated the human right to free elections when it stripped the Kurdish MPs of their membership of parliament because they belonged to a pro-Kurdish party.