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Turkish army vows to fight Kurdish rebels
despite ceasefire
2.10.2006 |
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ISTANBUL, October
2, -- The Turkish military vowed Monday to fight on
against Kurdish separatists despite a
rebel ceasefire
ordered at the weekend, saying that the only way out
for them was to surrender.
"The Turkish armed forces have said they will keep
up the struggle against terrorism until not even a
single armed terrorist is left. There is no change
in our position," chief of staff, General Yasar
Buyukanit, said in a speech at a military academy
here.
"The only solution for members of the terrorist
organization is to lay down their arms and surrender
to the Turkish justice," he said.
Buyukanit was speaking after the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK), blacklisted as a terrorist group by
Ankara and much of the international community,
called Saturday a ceasefire following an upsurge in
deadly violence.
The announcement followed an appeal by jailed PKK
leader
Abdullah Ocalan for a ceasefire to lay the
ground for "a diplomatic dialogue" in the 22-year
Kurdish conflict, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan swiftly rejected.
The army, which has been battling the PKK in mainly
Kurdish southeastern Turkey since 1984, has ignored
other ceasefire announcements in the past.
"The security forces are not pulling out of
operations anywhere in the world, they will
accomplish their missions. They are operational and
cannot stop being so," Erdogan told reporters
accompanying him on a flight to the United States
Saturday.
He added, however, he and Buyukanit discussed the
latest ceasefire announcement, adding: "If the
terrorist organization stands by its words, then no
operation will be undertaken without reason."
Curbing the PKK was expected to top the agenda of
the meeting Erdogan was to have later Monday with US
President George W. Bush at the White House.
Thousands of PKK rebels have found save haven in the
mountains of neighboring northern Iraq, which Ankara
charges, has become a training ground for the group,
where it enjoys unrestricted movement and easily
obtains weapons and explosives for attacks across
the border.
The PKK has fought for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's
mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984, with the
conflict claiming more than 37,000 lives.
AFP
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan".
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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