Istanbul police storm Kurdish party offices, detain 50 

 ISTANBUL, Nov 30 (AFP) - Turkish police on Friday stormed the offices of Turkey's main
 pro-Kurdish party in Istanbul to search the premises and detained some 50 members, the
 People's Democracy Party (HADEP) said.

 The search was based on a decision by a Turkish state security court, party spokesman Eyup
 Demir told AFP, but said the party had no knowledge of the content of the ruling.

 "The police seized some books and took some 50 people into custody," Demir said, adding
 that police also searched HADEP offices in the southeastern province of Siirt.

 HADEP often faces heavy pressure from Turkish authorities which accuse it of having ties to
 armed Kurdish rebels who have waged a violent 15-year campaign for Kurdish self-rule in
 southeast Turkey.

 HADEP, which campaigns for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, denies the charges,
 but nonetheless faces a possible ban for alleged association with the outlawed Kurdistan
 Workers Party (PKK).

 Tension in Turkey's southeast have scaled down since September 1999, when the PKK
 abandoned its armed campaign in favor of seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict following
 peace calls from PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is on death row for treason.

 Also, the Turkish military said on Friday it had sacked five officers on disciplinary grounds,
 a expression usually used to describe the expulsion of army personnel linked to separatist
 Kurdish and anti-secularist Islamic movements.
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