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Kurdish PKK threatens to end ceasefire
with Turkey
11.12.2006 |
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ANKARA, December
10, -- The separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
could call off a two-month-old unilateral ceasefire
with Turkey if Ankara continues to crack down on the
rebels and mistreat its Kurdish community, a senior
rebel commander said Sunday.
"We have put everything on the line to maintain the
ceasefire... despite attacks, oppression and acts of
elimination against us. In the face of these
developments, the ceasefire has rapidly become
impossible to implement," Cemil Bayik was quoted by
the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency as saying on its
website.
"Everyone should know that we will reconsider our
decision (for a ceasefire)" if the Turkish
government does not cease its attacks against PKK
rebels, improve the treatment of the Kurdish
community and pave the way for dialogue, he added.
The PKK, which has been fighting the Turkish army
since 1984, ordered a unilateral ceasefire from
October 1, saying it hoped this would pave the way
for a dialogue to resolve the conflict.
The truce, like the previous ones called by the PKK,
was quickly rejected by Turkey but fighting has
decreased markedly since then.
Ankara's actions since the declaration of the
ceasefire "have long ago given us the right to use
our legitimate right of defence and retaliation",
Bayik said.
"But there is a limit to this. If that limit is
exceeded, it will not be accepted and will be met
with great resistance," he added.
Turkey says thousands of PKK rebels are sheltering
in neighbouring northern Iraq which the militants
use as a springboard for attacks on Turkish targets
across the border.
Ankara has long pressed the United States and Iraq
to stamp out the PKK presence in Kurdish-populated
northern Iraq, where it says the rebels enjoy
unrestricted movement and easily obtain weapons and
explosives.
But the United States and Baghdad have been
reluctant to crack down on the rebels, saying they
are swamped by violence in other parts of the
country.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since the
PKK, classified as a terror organisation by Turkey,
the United States and the European Union, took up
arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast.
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"
Southeast Turkey. The Kurds have no rights in
Turkey.
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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