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Turkey: Kurdish issue spreads regionally 4.9.2006
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Rome, 4 September
,-- The main Kurdish militant movement, the Kongra-Gel
has been making overtures to the United States in
the hope of winning Washington's support in
persuading the Turkish government to start
negotiations, but the strategy does not appear to be
bearing fruit. Still, the growing autonomy of Iraq's
Kurdistan province coupled with American efforts to
spread democracy throughout the Middle East region
means calls for minority ethnic rights to be
recognised can no longer be ignored, Kurdish
activists say.
Last week Remzi Kartal a top official of the Kongra-Gel,
which is linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
- regarded as a terrorist organisation by both
Ankara and Washington – in an interview with
Adnkronos International (AKI) said he believed the
United States is "working hard" to bring Turkey out
of an "alliance" with Iran and Syria which sees all
three countries bent on crushing their Kurdish
minorities, in direct conflict with the democratic
principles the Americans are trying to instil.
"Washington is using all channels, military and
diplomatic, and is involving the European Union to
achieve this objective," Kartal told AKI.
Indeed, Washington has recently stepped up efforts
to allay Ankara's concerns – shared with Tehran and
Damascus - that the PKK is operating with impunity
in Iraqi Kurdistan and using the territory to launch
attacks into Turkey.
But the immediate US response is hardly encouraging
for the Kongra-Gel and its allies in Iraq.
Last Tuesday the United States appointed former Air
Force General Joseph Ralston as a special envoy to
co-ordinate American, Turkish and Iraqi government
efforts to "eliminate the terrorist threat of the
PKK and other terrorist groups operating in northern
Iraq and across the Turkey-Iraq border", according
to the US State Department.
Rolston's appointment was announced amid renewed
militant Kurdish activity in Turkey with a series of
bombings, including some aimed at tourist visiting
the country's popular seaside resorts. At least
three people were killed an scores more injured in
the attacks which were claimed by the Kurdistan
Freedom Falcons, believed to be a PKK offshoot.
Kartal, condemned the attacks, describing them as
offering "no solution to the Kurdish people". "The
killing of civilians is not acceptable. If the armed
struggle can contribute to a solution of the
[Kurdish] issue, then it has a certain legitimacy,
but actions like the ones we've seen in recent days,
are unacceptable," Kartal told AKI.
But Kartal suggested that cross-border raids from
Iraq against Turkish military targets were to be
considered legitimate, as long as Ankara refuses to
negotiate with Kurdish separatists. It is precisely
such sort of actions that Turkey's new controversial
military chief of staff General Yasar Buyukanit, has
vowed to ruthlessly counter.
Before his appointment last month to the country's
top military post, Buyukanit was embroiled in a row
over his praise fo a soldier jailed in connection
with a November 2005 bombing apparently aimed at
stirring unrest in Turkey's mostly Kurdish
populated, southeastern Anatolia region.
Analysts said that Buyukanit's appointment could
herald a tougher stance towards Ankara's
negotiations for membership of the European Union -
which wants to see the Turkish military's influence
over politics reduced and an intensification of the
fight against the PKK.
Kartal accuses Turkey's military establishment -
embodied by the likes of Buyukanit - of slamming
shut the window of hope for a negotiated settlement
to the Kurdish issue edged open by the civilian
government.
"It is true that the government of [Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan wanted to take a step
forward on the Kursidh question. The problem is that
it then stopped. Specifically, the military blocked
all attempts at progress. This despite pressures
both internal and from the international community.
If Erdogan really wanted to, he could have done
more," Kartal said.
It remains to be seen though if Ankara's and
Washington's pressure on Baghdad to curb PKK
activity on Iraqi Kurdistan will succeed given what
many analysts view as the territory's burgeoing
independence. Last week authorities in Erbil decided
to stop flying the Iraqi national flag from public
buildings, and to hoist the Kurdish flag instead.
Also Iraqi Kurds, viciously persecuted under Saddam
Hussein, have for the most part welcomed American
involvement in Iraq, and with little sign of a
decrease in the violence, Washington for all its
anti-PKK pronouncements, may not want to alienated
the Kurdish population.
adnki com
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"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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