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Turkey bombarding Kurdish PKK rebels in
Iraq's Kurdistan
10.10.2007 |
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October
10, 2007
SIRNAK, Kurdish southeastern Turkey, --
Turkey is shelling suspected Kurdish rebel camps
across the border in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq', a
newspaper reported Wednesday, but the government
appeared unlikely to move toward sending ground
troops until next week. A large-scale military
incursion would disrupt one of the few relatively
peaceful areas of Iraq and jeopardize Turkey's ties
with the United States, which has urged Ankara not
to take unilateral steps.
The Turkish military launched a major offensive on
its side of the border this week in response to more
than a week of deadly attacks in southeastern Turkey
by the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
A member of the governing Justice and Development
Party said a request for parliamentary approval for
a cross-border ground offensive was unlikely to come
to the floor before the end of a four-day religious
holiday on Sunday. He asked not to be named because
he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters
that preparations for the parliamentary
authorization were under way but he did not say when
a motion could reach the floor.
Turkish troops targeting the guerrillas' suspected
escape routes in mountainous areas in Sirnak
province have "squeezed" a group of about 80 rebels
on Mount Gabar, in Sirnak, the Hurriyet newspaper
reported. Escape routes were being bombed by
helicopter gunships while transport helicopters were
airlifting special commando units to strategic
points.
Turkish authorities have detained 20 suspected
Kurdish rebels at a border crossing with Iraq, the
office for the governor of Sirnak said in a written
statement.
Turkish troops were also shelling suspected PKK
camps in the regions of Kanimasa, Nazdur and Sinath,
in Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, from positions
in Turkey's Hakkari province, just across the
border, Hurriyet reported. Tanks were positioned
near the town of Silopi, in Sirnak province, the
paper said.
At least one artillery unit was seen positioned on
the Turkish side of the border, across from the
Iraqi Kurdish town of Zakho, with guns facing toward
Iraq.
The paper said the government would impose an
information blackout on its preparations for a
possible cross-border offensive.
On Wednesday, an opposition nationalist party that
has long been advocating an incursion into Iraq
called on the government to swiftly take the motion
to parliament and said it would back it.
If parliament approves, the military could choose to
immediately launch an operation or wait to see if
the United States and its allies, jolted by the
Turkish action, decide to crack down on the rebels.
Turkey conducted two dozen large-scale incursions
into Iraq between the late 1980s and 1997. The last
such operation, in 1997, involved tens of thousands
of troops and government-paid village guards.
Other punitive measure at Turkey's disposal
including cutting electricity supplies and closing
the border with Iraqi Kurdistan.
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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