On August 2, 2002, the Turkish parliament passed a reform bill that introduced a number of remarkable changes in the letter of the nation’s law. The bill reversed several longstanding policies: the death penalty was abolished in peacetime, non-Muslim religious groups were given the right to purchase property, and Kurdish language private schools, television and radio broadcasts were legalized. On the surface the new laws constitute a profound shift in the government’s position on the cultural rights of the country’s largest minority, the 12 million indigenous Kurds.See Spotlight Article
