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Iraq insurgent group urges Turkey to avoid
incursion
24.10.2007
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October
24, 2007
WASHINGTON, -- An Iraqi insurgent umbrella
group has urged Turkey to refrain from attacking
Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels on Iraqi soil and find a
diplomatic solution to the conflict, a US group
monitoring Islamist websites said Tuesday.
The Reformation and Jihad Front in Iraq, which
includes four insurgent groups, warned that an
attack could hurt Sunni citizens and Iraq's unity,
according to SITE Intelligence Group.
"The Reformation and Jihad Front observes with great
concern what is going on in our beloved North of
Iraq, which has now has become an open playground
for any player and a good field for any aggressor,"
it said in a statement on its website, according to
a SITE translation.
Turkey has threatened military action in Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq' unless Baghdad clamps down on
Turkey's separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
bases there and turns over the rebel leaders that
Ankara accuses of masterminding cross-border attacks
on its military.
"We ask the Turkish government to refrain and to use
its political or diplomatic efforts to solve the
crisis before launching any military operation, as
such will hurt the innocent citizens among our
vulnerable Kurdish people," the Reformation and
Jihad Front in Iraq said.
"We emphasize the unity of Iraq, its land and
people, and we hold the occupation and the
government and the Kurdish leadership responsible
for what is happening in our beloved North," it
said.
"We ask our Kurdish people to adhere to Sharia
(Islamic religious law) solutions as Muslim people
and not to let it be an axe to divide or hurt Iraq,"
the group said in the statement posted on its
website Monday.
The Reformation and Jihad Front includes the Islamic
Army in Iraq, Mujahedeen Army, Fateheen
(conqueror's) Army and Ansar al-Sunna-Religious
Committee.
The group is also part of the Political Council for
the Iraqi Resistance, an insurgent coalition formed
earlier this month that includes the Islamic
Resistance Movement Hamas in Iraq and the Islamic
Front for Iraqi Resistance.
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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