Around the World: Turkey

Kids not target of terror law

Turkey's government opened a campaign yesterday to soften an anti-terrorism law that has been used to jail Kurdish minors involved in violent protests, part of a wider initiative to expand the rights of minority Kurds and end a generation-old conflict.

The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan submitted a proposal to parliament to amend the law after critics said the anti-terrorism measure should not be used to prosecute youths who throw stones at police. In February, Turkish courts sentenced 17 Kurdish teenage demonstrators to prison terms of eight months to 10 years.