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Kurdish group warned Tourists to stay out
of Turkey
29.8.2006
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Newsdesk, August
29, 2006 ,-- A separatist group on Monday warned
tourists to stay away from Turkey after a wave of
bomb blasts killed three people and injured dozens,
including 10 Britons. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons
claimed responsibility for four of the five bombs
and warned on its website: "Turkey is not a safe
country; tourists should not come to Turkey."
Three people were killed and as many as 50 injured
in the most serious of the blasts, which wreaked
havoc in the southern city of Antalya on Monday
afternoon.
Earlier in the day 10 Britons, including four
children, were hurt when a bomb exploded on a bus in
the popular south-western coastal resort of Marmaris,
and on Sunday evening there was an explosion in
Istanbul.
In the major port city of Izmir, police on Monday
detained a suspected member of the Kurdish
separatist guerrilla group PKK they claimed was
planning an attack there, and seized plastic
explosives, the state news agency Anatolian
reported.
The bombings are a blow to the Turkish tourist
industry, which is worth about $19-billion a year.
Almost two-million Britons visit the country
annually and there are currently thousands in the
area around Marmaris. Beaches in the resort were
quieter than usual on Monday as many people decided
to stay in their hotels, and some began making plans
to abort their holiday.
The series of blasts began on Sunday evening when a
bomb exploded near a government building in an
Istanbul suburb. Six people were hurt, one of them
critically. Shortly after midnight on Monday there
were three explosions in Marmaris. The most serious
was on one of the many minibuses which ferry
visitors around the resort and surrounding areas.
Ten Britons who were on board were injured. The 10,
aged between seven and 73, were treated for burns
and shrapnel-like wounds. Four were seriously hurt.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, also known as the
Liberation Hawks, claimed responsibility for the
blasts in Istanbul and Marmaris. Nobody immediately
claimed responsibility for the blast in Antalya.
20 Million Kurds without any rights in Turkey
"More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984
when the PKK, blacklisted by Turkey, the United
States and the European Union, took up arms for
self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast
of Turkey.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan".
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq,Turkey,Syria,Iran,Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey
The Kurdish flag flown in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Source: Guardian | Agencies
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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