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EU's Solana warns Turkey against Iraqi
Kurdistan incursion
11.10.2007 |
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October
11, 2007
BRUSSELS, -- The European Union's foreign
policy chief warned Turkey on Thursday against a
possible military incursion into Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq' to fight Kurdish PKK rebels using
the region as a base.
"Any possibility of complicating even more the
security situation in Iraq is something that should
not be welcome and therefore that's the message that
we passed to our Turkish friends," Javier Solana
told reporters when asked about the possible
incursion.
Analysts say a large Turkish cross-border incursion
remains unlikely, but Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan's government will seek authorization for it
after a public holiday which ends on Sunday, a
ruling party member told Reuters.
A major military incursion into Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq', to crush Kurdish PKK rebels using
the region as a base, would strain ties with the
United States and the European Union, which Ankara
hopes to join, and could undermine regional
stability.
But analysts say Erdogan is under pressure to act
tough after a series of deadly rebel attacks on
Turkish security forces.
The government plans to seek from the Turkish
parliament a one-year authorisation to send troops
into Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq', where
believed about 3,000 PKK militants are based.
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.
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'. 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.
Reuters
**
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)
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