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Turkey starts fall offensive against
Kurdish PKK rebels
6.10.2007 |
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October
6, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey has started its fall
offensive early against the Kurdistan Workers Party,
or PKK, The New Anatolian reported Friday.
The country has deployed about 40,000 men, including
paramilitary police officers and soldiers. They are
conducting “search-and-destroy” operations aimed at
PKK hideouts and looking for caches of food and
military supplies.
Andrew MacGregor, a Canadian terrorism expert, said
in an analysis this week that officials decided to
move in mid-September to strengthen Turkey’s
position with the Kurdish region in Iraq and to
impress the United States. The Turkish government
has accused Iraq of providing havens for the PKK.
"The U.S. should understand and see that it is not
time for words, but for action," said General Ilker
Basbug, commander of the Turkish Land Forces.
The PKK is believed to have 1,500 to 1,900 militant
fighters in Turkey. MacGregor said that by the end
of October, as winter sets in, the operations will
have to end.
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.
UPI
**
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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