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Massive demonstration in Iraqi Kurdistan
against Turkish parliament's decision 18.10.2007
Update 3 |
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Thousands of Kurds mount peaceful protest against
threat of Turkish attack
October
18, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', --
Thousands of Iraqi Kurds rallied in two Kurdish
cities on Thursday, holding aloft red, white and
green flags of Kurdistan that are banned in Turkey
and calling for international support.
Kurds in the regional capital of Kurdistan, Erbil
and the border city of Duhok were fearful that a
Turkish parliamentary decision to authorise a
military incursion meant troops imminently crossing
the border to hunt down rebels.
"No, no to the Turkish threat, yes yes to peace,"
chanted one protestor in Erbil. "Violation of the
Kurdistan border is a violation of the people of
Kurdistan," read a banner held by another.
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Thousands of Kurds mount peaceful protest against
threat of Turkish attack |
Several thousand students, government workers and
union representatives massed outside the UN building
in Erbil, the seat of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish
regional government, to denounce the developments in
Ankara.
The Turkish parliament gave permission to the
military on Wednesday to launch an incursion into
northern Iraq to crack down on rebels from the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Iraqi Kurdistan
territory.
Carrying Kurdistani flags and banners written in
Arabic, Kurdish and English, protestors called for
help to stop the Turks from launching any military
action.
Another banner declared: “The language of threat is
no more.”
"We demand that the Iraqi government and
international community stand together against the
Turkish threat," one protestor said.
Tight security surrounded the protest which saw
traffic stopped in the centre of Erbil as
demonstrators handed over a letter to the UN
representative in the city.
"The best way to treat the PKK issue is to hold a
dialogue between the Turkish leadership and the
Kurdish leadership," said Karim Ali, a 21-year old
student draped in a Kurdish flag.
"Why are they threatening us, we are not a part of
the PKK issue?" he asked.
Another protestor accused the Turks of having a
hidden agenda targeting Iraqi Kurdistan, not just
the PKK rebels.
"As big as this demonstration is, I think it will
not be any use because the Turkish have decided to
destroy the Kurdistan experiment," said Ahmed Salim,
19. "I don't think we can stop the Turkish threat."
In Duhok, the main city on the border with Turkey,
some 5,000 demonstrators gathered holding banners
saying, "We condemn the Turkish threat," and calling
for support from the international community.
They brandished Kurdish flags and pictures of the
late Mustafa Barzani, the father of modern Kurdish
nationalism whose son Massoud is president of the
autonomous Kurdistan region.
A smaller rally also took place in Sheladze, a town
about 20km (13 miles) south of the Turkish border,
while about 1,500 minority Turkomen in the northern
city of Tal Afar demonstrated in solidarity with the
Kurds.
“We are protesting because we do not want the
Turkish Army to enter the Kurdish region,” said
Renas Jano, 28, President of the Kurdistan Students'
Union, which organised the Erbil protest that ended
outside the United Nations' office in the city.
“We will continue this action...We will use every,
civil method,” he told The Times.
Dr Zakhoy, KDP leader in the district, which is home
to more than 200,000 people, emphasised that the
chances of Turkey carrying out a serious incursion
were very weak. But he told his audience: “We are
not afraid. Today the Peshmerga are in the prepared
places and they are ready to defend Kurdistan and
when it is needed we will all join them to defend
our land.”
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 says the PKK enjoys free movement in
Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' and is tolerated or
even actively supported by Iraqi Kurdish leaders,
something Kurdistan and Iraq strongly deny.
A Turkish government bill seeking a one-year
authorisation for military intervention in Iraqi
Kurdistan was
approved by a
landslide on Wednesday despite stiff U.S. opposition
and appeals from Baghdad for time to purge the PKK
rebels. .
The law leaves it up to the government to determine
the timing and scope of any incursion and the number
of troops to be sent.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
stressed that parliamentary approval will not mean
immediate military action, signalling that there
could still be room for diplomacy.
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'.
www.ekurd.net
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.
The speaker of the Kurdish parliament, Adnan
al-Mufti, went even further in his defiance of the
Turkish sabre-rattling, saying they were not really
after the PKK rebels but wanted to eliminate the
idea of an autonomous Kurdistan in 'northern Iraq'.
AFP | timesonline co.uk
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