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Turkey deploys extra troops to Iraqi
Kurdistan borders
13.10.2007 |
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October
13, 2007
Duhok, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',-- Kurdish
military sources on Saturday said that Turkish
forces' concentrations increased near Iraqi
Kurdistan borders and U.S. troops were watching on
the situation, while local residents claimed Turkish
soldiers attacked an Iraqi Kurdish village with
machine guns.
The tension on the borders escalated after the
Turkish Prime Minster Rajab Tayyeb Erdogan expressed
his country's readiness to face criticism on
incursion into northern Iraqi Kurdistan region.
"Turkey deployed additional forces near the Iraq
borders, particularly in the areas of Shirnakh,
Jazzera and Silopi," a Kurdish military source, who
requested anonymity for he was not authorized to
release the information, told VOI.
Another Kurdish military source said that the U.S.
forces kept watching on the Turkish concentrations,
but he declined to say how.
On Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
gave the green light for a possible military
incursion into Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' to chase
the PKK's fighters hiding there after a series of
deadly attacks on Turkish security forces.
Meanwhile, local residents from the Iraqi Kurdish
villages near the borders with Turkey said forces,
believed to be Turkish, attacked, Saturday before
dawn, an Iraqi village with machine guns sending the
population into a panic.
"At 2:00 am on Saturday, Turkish troops attacked
with machine guns the Iraqi village of Kani Zawa,
sending the villagers into a panic," Khurshid Taher,
27, said.
Another local resident said "there were no human
losses but the villagers went in a panic."
Turkey claims 3,000 fighters from the Turkish banned
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are using the
mountainous areas of Kurdistan region in northern
Iraq as base to launch attacks on Turkish targets.
Iraqi Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using a
Kurdish separatist PKK rebel group as an excuse to
invade Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent the
establishment of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish
autonomous region in 'northern Iraq'.
Ankara is anxious to prevent the emergence of a
Kurdish state in Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq',
fearing this could fan separatism among its own
large Kurdish population in southeast Turkey. Turkey
is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds.
The PKK was founded in the 1970s and is committed to
the creation of an independent Kurdish state in a
territory which it claims as Kurdistan.
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
VOI
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
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" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 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.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially 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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