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Turkey shells Iraqi Kurdistan border areas
amid incursion talk
15.10.2007 |
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October
15, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',--
Turkish troops Sunday sent shells crashing across
the Iraqi border into several villages in the
autonomous Kurdistan region, officials said, as
Ankara prepared to ask MPs to approve a ground
incursion.
Residents of a village near the northern Iraq border
town of Zakhu fled after shells slammed into their
homes and farms during a day-long bombardment that
caused major damage but no casualties, Kurdistan
regional government spokesman Jamal Abdullah said.
"From this morning until early evening there was a
Turkish attack on villagers near Zakhu," Abdullah
said. "There were no casualties but lots of damage
and many families fled to safer areas."
An army officer had earlier said on condition of
anonymity that cross-border shelling in a number of
areas began Saturday around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) and
carried on sporadically into Sunday. Most of the
shells landed in open land, he added.
Kurdistan borders forces said on Sunday Turkish
troops fired over 250 artillery shells into areas
inside Iraqi northern territories, inflicting
material losses. "The Turkish artillery fired, last
night, over 250 artillery shells into villages
within districts of al-Imadiyah and Zakho, Iraq's
Kurdistan region, setting large farms ablaze," a
source from Kurdistan borders forces told VOI.
www.ekurd.net
A witness said the shells hit around villages in the
Al-Amadiyah area about 15 kilometres (nine miles)
from the frontier and 50 kilometres northeast of the
Kurdish town of Duhok.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on
Friday that he was ready to brave international
censure should his country decide to deal ruthlessly
with Kurdish rebel bases in Iraq.
A government bill seeking the go-ahead to launch an
incursion any time in the next year is expected to
be submitted to parliament after a cabinet meeting
on Monday.
Wahid Kista, 42, who lives in the village of Kista
near the Iraq-Turkey frontier, said by telephone the
shelling was targeting villages in the Metin
mountain area "where the PKK (Kurdistan Workers
Party) has bases."
A spokesman for the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan, Abdul
Rahman al-Jadershi, confirmed the shelling but said
that reports the rebel group is crossing into Turkey
to launch attacks "are not correct."
"We have not left Kurdistan nor are we hitting
Turkish targets from Kurdistan ... The other
operations are being carried out by our members in
Turkey," he told AFP by telephone.
"Turkey is deploying forces near the border but we
are ready to respond and have taken positions."
Ankara charges the PKK has used bases in northern
Iraq to launch a renewed offensive inside Turkey
that saw 15 soldiers killed last week.
Turkey also claims Iraqi Kurds support the PKK with
arms and explosives, which the regional government
strongly denies.
The Kurdistan regional government in northern Iraq
has warned Turkey against making good its threat to
mount a cross-border incursion.
Iraqi and Turkish officials met in Baghdad on Friday
in an attempt to reduce tensions.
A terse statement from the Iraqi government gave few
details of what Iraqi Defence Minister Abdel Qader
Mohammed Jassim and ambassador Derya Kanbay
discussed, but the meeting came after both the
European Union and the United States urged dialogue.
The two men discussed "means of developing relations
between the two friendly countries in the field of
combating terror and exchange of information," the
statement said.
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.
Considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United
States and the European Union, the PKK unleashed an
independence struggle in the mainly Kurdish
southeastern Turkey in 1984 that has killed more
than 37,000 people.
Turkey and Iraq signed an accord last month to
combat the PKK, but failed to agree on a clause
allowing Turkish troops to engage in "hot pursuit"
against rebels fleeing into Iraqi territory, as they
did regularly in the 1990s.
AFP | Agencies
**
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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