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PKK Kurdish guerillas dismiss Iraqi
threats to 'finish' them in a year
19.11.2006 |
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KURTAK,
Kurdistan-Iraq, November 19, -- The explosion
reverberated across the mountain valley after the
rocket-propelled grenade crashed into the hilltop,
immediately followed by the staccato of a light
machine gun.
From the base of the hill, Kurdish fighters
gradually crept upwards, before flinging grenades
and storming the crest, the echoes of gunfire and
explosions filling the peaceful valley high in the
Kurdistani (northern Iraqi) mountains near the
Iranian border.
The "assault" was really just an exercise for these
guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers Party at one
of their bases in the Qandil mountains. But it all
may become very real if the Iraqi government carries
out a promise made to Turkish government to "finish"
the PKK in less than a year.
"It's time this problem was resolved," Minister of
State for National Security Shirwan al-Waili told
the Turkish daily Al-Zaman.
"It is not going to take long this time. We are
going to finish the PKK in less than a year."
In his stone hut on a mountain side, guerilla
commander Sayda Hussein Afshin dismissed the
minister's statements.
"He's just being political, and is lying both to the
Turks and to himself," he said. "We are not afraid.
In any case there are always possibilities of
attacks in every part of Kurdistan, from all four
sides." |
A PKK guerrilla fighter carrying a Kalashnikov
rifle. PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey. About
half of all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live
in Turkey |
"We are always preparing ourselves."
At first glance, though, it is difficult to see how
this unit of a few dozen men is going to stand up to
a concerted Iraqi attempt to retake their mountain
fastness.
To conserve ammunition for the exercise they loaded
their weapons with older bullets, causing many to
jam during the hilltop assault, and at least one RPG
round misfired.
It is hard to believe that this movement has
survived the concerted assaults of the Turkish
military, armed with modern helicopters and
artillery, since launching a guerilla war for an
independent Kurdish homeland in 1984.
Sozdar Serbiliz is commander of the camp's women
fighters, who make up half the force. She maintains
that their guerrilla tactics and ideology allow them
to compete with modern armies.
"Our goal isn't to destroy other armies. We are
trying to unify the Kurdish people and protect
them," she said sipping tea following a session to
critique the exercise. "We are not going to have a
separate state."
She said the goal was to fight for the Kurds
everywhere, not just in Turkey, to have the right to
freedom of thought and express their Kurdish
identity.
"We don't want war," said the hardened 25-year-old
guerrilla who has been fighting Turks for the past
decade.
"The problem is that all four states attack the
Kurds and they don't accept our identity."
The PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by
Turkey, the European Union and the United States,
has fought for self-rule in mainly Kurdish
southeastern Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that
has claimed more than 37,000
lives.
Ankara has frequently threatened to intervene
militarily at the Iraqi border against PKK camps if
Baghdad and Washington failed to rein in the rebel
group.
Thousands of PKK members have settled in northern
Iraq's Kurdistan since 1999, when the group declared
a ceasefire after the arrest of their chief,
Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life prison
sentence.
The group declared a unilateral ceasefire with
Turkey in September.
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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