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Turkey masses troops on Iraqi Kurdistan
border
27.4.2006
by Aaron Glantz - Anti War
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Life for Kurds in Kurdistan (northern Iraq) is
about to get a lot more complicated.
The Turkish army has begun massing troops on Iraq's
northern border in an effort to combat the Kurdish
armed group the PKK.
In the last week, the Turkish government has sent
about 40,000 troops to southeastern Anatolia,
bringing the total troops stationed near the Iraqi
border to an estimated 250,000 (close to double the
number of U.S. forces in Iraq).
The buildup represents the largest number of Turkish
soldiers deployed to the region since Turkey
captured guerilla leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999.
After that, Kurdish fighters declared a unilateral
cease-fire, and approximately 5,000 cadres withdrew
into a base in the mountains of northern Iraq.
Since then, they had given up on an independent
Kurdistan and instead hoped political dialogue could
bring additional civil and cultural rights for Kurds
in Turkey. But the Turkish government stubbornly
refused to give Kurds any kind of minority rights.
Preachers remain barred by law from giving their
sermons in Kurdish, and public schools are forbidden
to teach Kurdish children in the language of their
ancestors. According to Human Rights Watch's annual
report for 2006:
"Turkey's courts and state officials repeatedly
obstruct language freedoms. As of November 2005 not
a single private broadcaster had been given
permission to broadcast in Kurdish. … In June the
Ankara governor refused to authorize the Kurdish
Democracy Culture and Solidarity Association (Kürt-Der),
claiming that the organization's program 'to secure
the social and individual rights of Kurds' was
unconstitutional. In July the Bingöl governor
imposed a U.S.$800 'administrative fine' on local
Human Rights Association (HRA) President Ridvan
Kizgin for printing the association's letterhead in
Kurdish as well as Turkish, supposedly a breach of
the Associations Law requirement that correspondence
be exclusively in Turkish."
In reaction to this inaction, PKK guerillas called
off their cease-fire last year, launching bombings
in major Turkish cities and attacks on Turkish army
units stationed in the Kurdish-populated southeast.
That's brought more state repression from the
Turkish government, whose units killed at least 13
Kurds earlier this month at funerals for PKK rebels.
It was in this atmosphere that U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Ankara Tuesday.
Rice made no mention of Turkey's human rights record
and instead tried to placate the Turkish army.
"We obviously also are sharing information. The U.S.
was active in helping in the past with the PKK, and
we will be active in the future," she said.
Rice's statements are understandable given the
number of ways Turkey could hobble Iraq if its
leaders aren't satisfied. If Turkey closed its
border with Iraq, the Iraqi economy would be
paralyzed. More than half of all goods and services
come into the country through Turkey. When Turkish
truckers went on strike last year, Kurdish officials
inside Iraq were forced to enact severe rationing
programs.
Beyond that, even an invasion is possible. Before
Rice's visit, the commander of Turkey's armed
forces, Gen. Hilmi Özkök, was asked if his military
would ask for permission from Washington before
crossing the border into Iraq. "We cannot make a
decision of that kind based on the USA," he said.
"Every country is sovereign. Every country makes its
own decisions. If the conditions change, you act by
the changing conditions."
Anti War.com
Southeast Turkey: Northern Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
Northern Iraq : South Kurdistan (Kurdistan-Iraq)
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