Turks drop charges against childrens' choir accused of singing Kurdish song in USA

In an about face, Turkish prosecutors announced today that they won't pursue criminal charges against children who sang a song associated with the PKK during an appearance last year in San   Francisco.

"A new prosecutor in the court in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir said there was no criminal case for the three teenagers, aged 15 to 17, to answer," BBC News reports. "The judge agreed, saying the children had not intended to commit a crime."

The hullabaloo began after the 15-member Diyarbakir Yenisehir Council Children's Choir sang Ey Raqip, a song that the Kurdish separatist group has adopted as its anthem. In addition to the song, prosecutors alleged that PKK flags were displayed at the October appearance.

"We shared our culture there, at the festival," choir director Duygu Özge Bayar tells Spiegel. "We sang various songs showing the styles of Diyarbakir … If performing these songs is separatism, then we are guilty of promoting separatism."

The U.S. government, like Turkey, considers the PKK a terrorist group.

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