|
Turkish army sends 40,000 troops to
southeast
21.4.2006
|
|
|
|
TUNCELI, Turkey,
April 20, -- Turkey has sent nearly 40,000 troops to
the southeast (Kurdistan-Turkey) to prepare for an
expected rise in Kurdish rebel incursions from
northern Iraq (Kurdistan-Iraq), a senior military
official said on Thursday.
The official, who declined to be named, said more
troops would arrive from central and western Turkey
to back up security forces fighting Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas in the mountainous
provinces Hakkari, Van and Sirnak.
"The Kurdistan Workers Party is trying to send half
of its 4,900 militants (based) in northern Iraq here
and preparing for attacks in Turkey's cities," the
official told Reuters.
Dozens of guerrillas and members of Turkey's
security forces have been killed in clashes and mine
attacks in recent months, and a string of bomb
attacks has hit Istanbul, some of them claimed by a
group linked to the PKK.
Street clashes in March and April between Kurdish
protestors and security forces, in which 17 people
died, also contributed to concerns that violence
could escalate to levels seen in the 1990s, the peak
of the PKK's campaign for a Kurdish homeland.
Ankara has repeatedly called on the United States to
crack down on PKK rebels based in northern Iraq but
slipping across the mountainous border to attack
security forces.
Ankara, the European Union and the United States
consider the PKK a terrorist organisation and blames
it for the deaths of some 30,000 people.
Turkey already has some 220,000 to 250,000 troops in
the southeast.
Reuters
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 