Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday criticized a Turkish court's conviction of 53 mayors for backing the outlawed PKK separatists, over a letter they wrote him in 2005, the AFP reported.
Rasmussen said in a statement it is incomprehensible that a letter of this kind can lead to a guilty verdict.
"Turkey wishes to join the European Union, and we therefore expect that it adopts the same norms (in regards to freedom of expression) as the EU," he said. "This is a case that Denmark and the EU are watching closely and we have emphasized this to Turkey," he added.
Following an indictment filed in 2006, a Turkish court on Tuesday found 53 mayors from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) guilty of supporting the outlawed PKK separatists by asking Denmark's government to keep the Kurdish Roj-TV station on air in Denmark. The court sentenced the mayors, convicted on the charge of endorsing and backing a criminal organization, to 2.5 months in prison. It later commuted the sentence to fines.
Roj-TV is banned in Turkey. Turkey says the station is a propaganda machine for the outlawed separatists of the PKK.