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Turkey 'building up forces on Iraqi
Kurdistan border'
9.8.2006
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Ankara, Turkey,
August 9 ,-- Turkey is building up military forces
near the border with Kurdistan-Iraq, signalling that
it plans to increase its anti- Kurdish Workers'
Party (PKK) operations in the area, CNN-Turk
television reported Wednesday.
Convoys of tanks and military vehicles had been seen
in recent days moving to the border regions in
southeast Turkey, and commando units had been
deployed in the region.
CNN-Turk reported that while the military normally
increased its forces in the southeast during the
summer months when guerrilla activity from PKK
rebels based in northern Iraq increased, the latest
build-up was much bigger than in previous years.
Turkey has been pushing the United States and the
Iraqi government to act against PKK bases in
northern Iraq, but has so far been rebuffed.
Last month Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
Turkey had every right to send troops across the
border into northern Iraq in order to destroy PKK
bases.
More than 32,000 people, mainly Kurdish civilians,
have been killed since the early 1980s when the PKK
launched its fight for independence or autonomy for
the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast.
This summer has seen a marked increase in the number
of clashes between Turkish security forces and PKK
rebels.
DPA
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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