release him. The European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) reports that (as of April 2010): "The public use by officials of the Kurdish language lays them open to prosecution, and public defence by individuals of Kurdish or minority interests also frequently leads to prosecutions under the Criminal Code." From the 1994 briefing at the International Human Rights Law Group: "the problem in Turkey is the Constitution is against the Kurds and the apartheid constitution is very similar to it." In 1998 Leyla Zana received a jail sentence. This prompted one member of the U.S. House of Representative, Elizabeth Furse, to accuse Turkey of being a racist state and continuing to deny the Kurds a voice in the state". Abbas Manafy from New Mexico Highlands University claims "The Kurdish deprivation of their own culture, language, and tradition is incompatible with democratic norms. It reflects an apartheid system that victimizes minorities like Armenians, Kurds, and Alevis." See also Kurds of Khorasan Minorities in Turkey Armenians in Turkey Human rights in Turkey List of Kurdish people Turkification References Further reading Bîrnebûn Veger Kurdên Kirşehîrê (Kurdish / Turkish) Asemblee Parlementaire, Documents De Seance: Session Ordinaire D'octobre 2006 External links History of the Kurdish people Kurdish people