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Turkey has had bases in Iraqi Kurdistan
for 10 years 17.10.2007 |
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October
17, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',--
Hundreds of Turkish soldiers are already based in
Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' at four camps that
have been there for a decade, Iraqi Kurdish
officials said Tuesday as Ankara mulled a possible
military incursion.
The camps were set up east of the border town of
Zakho, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) inside Iraqi
Kurdistan, as part of an agreement between the Turks
and the party of Kurdistan regional president
Massoud Barzani.
"There have been four bases in Iraqi Kurdistan since
1997," an official from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan
government told AFP on condition of anonymity.
At the time, Turkish troops had lent their support
to Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party which was
fighting the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by
Jalal Talabani.
Barzani is now president of Iraq's autonomous
Kurdistan regional while Talabani is president of
Iraq.
The Turkish parliament is to vote on Wednesday on an
authorisation -- valid for one year -- for the
military to launch an incursion into Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq' to crush Kurdish rebels of
the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
"I wonder why these bases are still here," asked
Yassin Ali, who lives in Bamerni, a village near one
of the camps sited at a former Iraqi air base.
According to the Kurdish Regional Government, at
least 600 Turkish soldiers are stationed in Iraqi
Kurdistan, supported by 150 armoured vehicles
including tanks. In addition to Bamerni, the three
other camps are based at Amerli, Kanimesi and
Chiladeza.
Local inhabitants, however, estimate that as many as
1,500 Turkish soldiers could be in the region, which
is northeast of the Iraqi Kurd town of Duhok.
"Their presence terrifies us," said Ali. "One day
they might target us as the Turkish army is not to
be trusted.
"We previously saw the Turkish army invading the
region under the pretext of chasing the PKK and this
army did nothing.
The party remained and the Turkish army tries to
find excuses to keep a presence controlling the
place," he added.
The PKK has been fighting the Turkish government
since 1984, and according to Ankara some 3,500
rebels have taken refuge in northern Iraq.
Exasperated by the continuing PKK activities in
southeastern Turkey near the border with Iraqi
Kurdistan since the start of the year, Turkey has
threatened to send troops over the frontier to crush
the rebel havens.
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. Turkey is home to over
25 million ethnic Kurds.
AFP
**
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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