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Turkey: Kurdish Intifada ?
25.4.2006
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Clashes in
Southeastern Turkey on the Rise
Violence is on the rise in southeastern Turkey as
the Kurdistan Worker's Party increases its guerilla
activity. The government in Ankara is worried about
a Kurdish intifada.
It's slowly becoming a regular feature of the news
coming out of Turkey these days: clashes between
Turkish troops and Kurdish militants in the eastern
part of the country. On Tuesday, three Kurdish
militants and one Turkish soldier were killed in a
skirmish in the Sirnak province near the Iraqi
border. Fifteen soldiers, four police officers and
more than 40 Kurdish militants have been killed in
south-eastern Turkey in recent months. And eight
bombings in the past three months have left two dead
and 47 injured -- bombings claimed by a group
calling itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons.
In short, violence is in the rise in Turkey -- and
the country's military is concerned that the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), together with the
Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, is trying to begin a
Palestinian-like intifada.
Indeed, the Aksam newspaper reported last Friday
that a further 10,000 Turkish soldiers have been
sent to the border region, bringing the total number
of troops in the area up to about 50,000. "As long
as the PKK exists, our operations will continue in
ever-increasing intensity," General Yasar Buyukanit,
the head of Turkey's land forces, told CNN-Turk
television in an interview aired on Sunday.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, which has been
fighting for Kurdish autonomy since 1984, frequently
launches its anti-government operations from its
bases on the Iraqi side of the border. Since the
group took up arms in 1984, some 37,000 people have
lost their lives in the fighting -- with clashes
generally accelerating in the spring time when the
mountain passes on the Turkey-Iraq border become
more accessible.
Indeed, to help prevent attacks from being launched
across the border, some 2,000 Turkish soldiers are
routinely stationed in northern Iraq. Turkey has
repeatedly called on the United States to crack down
on the PKK bases in northern Iraq, but US commanders
have been reticent to divert troops from the
struggle against Iraqi insurgents.
Now Turkey seems tempted to take matters into its
own hands. The chief commander of Turkey's armed
forces, General Hilmi Ozkok, has stressed that
Turkey has the right to carry out cross-border
operations under international law: "If the
conditions arise, like every sovereign country, we
will use those rights," Ozkok said on Sunday,
according to the AP. Still, such a move would be
politically sensitive and diplomats argue that it is
unlikely Turkey will put its relations to Washington
and to the European Union at risk by staging a large
offensive in Iraq. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
has likewise recently said that neighboring
countries should not meddle in Iraq's affairs -- a
statement thought to refer to Turkey.
With the armed clashes between the PKK and the
Turkish military heating up, the government of
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also
stepping up internal repression of groups suspected
of supporting the PKK. Last Tuesday, Turkish
security forces raided the offices of the
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party. Some 50 party
members, including five provincial leaders and nine
local leaders, were detained, according to the AP.
Prime Minister Erdogan had previously urged members
of the Democratic Society Party to denounce PKK
violence. The leaders of the party have refused to
accept the definition of the PKK as a terrorist
group, a definition endorsed by Turkey, Washington
and the EU.
Repression of pro-Kurdish politicians and activists
has raised concern about Turkey's
not-always-sparkling human rights record -- one of
the main obstacles to the country's admission to the
EU. On April 12, human rights activist Jonathan
Sugden, a member of the British non-governmental
organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) was arrested
by Turkish authorities for failing to inform them
about his activities in the country. Human Rights
Watch pointed out Sugden had made official requests
to meet with various members of government prior to
his visit, and Sugden was released after one day.
Kerim Yildiz, a member of another London-based human
rights organization, Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP),
said in a statement released on April 13: "This
arrest was intended to intimidate and deter human
rights defenders from visiting Turkey. Human Rights
Watch enjoys the relative protection of
international awareness. Sadly, many human rights
defenders in Turkey do not."
Spiegel de
Southeast Turkey: Northern Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
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