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in brief
News
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Date: 25/02/2009
Turkey shows again contradictions over language rights
NEWS IN BRIEF. State television channel cuts its live broadcast when a Kurd deputy addressed de Turkish Assembly in Kurdish, few days after Erdogan had delivered a brief speech in that language.
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Date: 24/02/2009
Tamil Tigers call for a ceasefire as Sri Lanka prepares final army offensive
Pro-independence fighters, weakened by Sinhalese army offensive, tell UN about their intention to comply with a truce and say “it is painful to see the world maintaining silence on this immense human suffering” · Sri Lankan army rejects the offer and demands “complete surrender” · According to some sources Tamil defeat could be a matter of days.
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Date: 23/02/2009
Right to self-determination for Sahrawi recognized by new UN special envoy
Christopher Ross declares that solution to the conflict “must include the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination”, but does not specify a timing for the referendum · Ross’ predecessor, Peter van Walsum, has not been extended in his post after stating that “independence for Western Sahara is not a realistic proposition”
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Date: 20/02/2009
Peoples and Nations today: South Tyrol
DOSSIER. The Italian State is undergoing a deep federalist reform, and South Tyrol is one of the territories willing to get further in its demands for more self-government. South Tyrol is mainly a German-speaking country, although Ladin people live in some areas of the Dolomite Mountains, a section of the Eastern Alps cutting across South Tyrolean territory. The main autonomist party, the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP), has been governing for the last 20 years, and after the last elections has set the goal of obtaining fiscal autonomy and more powers transferred.
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Date: 20/02/2009
Colonial problem reappears as Guadeloupe rises
Nicolas Sarkozy says the island suffers from “identity crisis” and announces economic measures to deal with it · Guadeloupe is on strike since January 20 in protest over the raising cost of living · Demonstrations have spread to other overseas departments of France such as Martinique and Reunion
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Date: 20/02/2009
UNESCO’s online atlas of endangered languages launched
NEWS IN BRIEF. Around 2,500 languages fall under ‘unsafe’ and ‘critically endangered’ categories.
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Date: 18/02/2009
Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs reach an agreement on power distribution in Kirkuk
A Kurd is to be appointed provincial governor, the vice-governor will be an Arab and a Turkmen is to hold the presidency of Kirkuk’s city council · The agreement does not come to a decision on the incorporation of Kirkuk district into the Kurdish self-governing region · Prime Minister of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan has highlighted the risk of tension escalating in the city if the conflict is not settled for this troubled oil-rich region of Kirkuk
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Date: 17/02/2009
Ugo Cappellacci, leader of the Il Popolo della Libertá coalition defeats current president Renato Soru, leader of the center-left coalition · Autonomists and pro-independence parties remarkably improve their results, and Independence Republic of Sardinia (Indipendèntzia Repùbrica de Sardigna, IRS) becomes the third party in Parliament.
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Date: 16/02/2009
Kosovo marks its first year of independence without full sovereignty and recognition
The Balkan country is far from being a normalized State · Kosovo institutions are still under the tutelage of international organizations · More than 50 States, most of them European, have already recognized Kosovo’s statehood.
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Date: 13/02/2009
Peoples and Nations today: Frisia
DOSSIER. Frisia, inhabited by a few hundred thousand people, is located South-East of the North Sea. The country is too often disregarded in the list of European minoritised nations and cultures. Most of its territory is situated within the Dutch province of Friesland, but Frisia also encompasses some areas in the North of Germany and across the border with Denmark. The Frisian people have preserved their own languages –particularly West Frisian– and attained certain restricted political representation.
