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Turkish army kills four Kurdish militants
21.7.2006
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ANKARA, July 21,
2006 (AFP) , -- Four Kurdish militants and a soldier
were killed Friday in southeast Turkey as Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told US President
George W. Bush that escalating rebel attacks had
gone "beyond the limits of tolerance."
The two leaders spoke on the phone Thursday evening,
after Ankara threatened a cross-border operation if
Washington and Baghdad fail to crack down on bases
of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in
northern Iraq.
The warning followed the killing last week of 15
security force members by PKK militants.
"I told him (Bush) we want to cooperate with the
Iraqi government and he said he agrees we should
work together on this issue," Erdogan told reporters
late Thursday during a visit to northern Cyprus, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
"But I also told him that the limits of our
tolerance have been seriously breached and we cannot
just put aside the fact that we had 15 martyrs in
three days," Erdogan said.
The army stepped up action against the PKK in
Turkey's mainly Kurdish eastern and southeastern
regions, killing four militants in a clash in the
countryside in Van province Friday, security
officials said.
Four soldiers were injured, two of them seriously.
PKK militants, meanwhile, opened fire on a military
helicopter flying over the rugged mountains of
Sirnak province, which borders Iraq and Iran,
killing one soldier, officials said.
The soldier, hit by a bullet that pierced the
helicopter's window, was among a group of discharged
troops who were leaving the area.
Ankara charges that Kurdish-run northern Iraq has
become a springboard for PKK attacks inside Turkey,
where the rebels enjoy unrestricted movement and are
able to easily obtain weapons and explosives.
Like Ankara, Washington considers the PKK a terror
organization and has pledged support to its NATO
ally Turkey in combating the group.
But it has been reluctant to crack down on the PKK
in northern Iraq, arguing that allied forces are
overwhelmed by violence in other parts of the
country and that military action in the north could
destabilize the relatively calm region.
Washington has warned Turkey against unilateral
cross-border action, drawing accusations from
Erdogan that it is using double standards -- a
reference to US support for Israeli offensives
against Islamist militants in Lebanon and the Gaza
Strip.
Thousands of PKK rebels have moved to northern Iraq
since 1999, when the group declared a unilateral
ceasefire after the capture of its leader Abdullah
Ocalan, now serving a life sentence for treason.
The truce was called off in June 2004 and PKK
attacks on government targets have markedly
escalated since.
At least 91 PKK rebels and 53 members of the
security forces have been killed this year,
according to an AFP count.
Kurdish militants have also claimed responsibility
for 11 bomb attacks in urban centres across Turkey
this year, in which nine people were killed and
nearly 140 injured.
The Kurdish conflict has claimed more than 37,000
lives since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for
self-rule in the southeast.
AFP
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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