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Turkish forces on high alert against
possible PKK attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan
19.10.2007
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October
19, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkish security forces in the
southeast have gone on high alert against possible
attacks by the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK)
after lawmakers approved a motion authorizing a
cross-border operation into Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq', newspaper Today's Zaman reported on
Friday.
According to the report, deployment of military
equipment on the border has intensified and military
activities have increased in the southeastern
Kurdish provinces of Diyarbakir, Sirnak, Hakkari and
Tunceli, while operations against PKK around Cudi,
Gabar and Kato mountains are still under way.
Security measures have been tightened in Sirnak city
in Diyarbakir, where a number of PKK Molotov
cocktail attacks had took place, and the police have
been searching for suspicious individuals all across
the city. |
Turkish troops on Turkey-Iraqi Kurdistan border |
Turkish intelligence indicated that the PKK, which
has been cornered with mounting operations, has
decided to focus on rebel attacks in city centers
rather than in rural areas.
Leaders of the PKK have reportedly ordered its
members to stage attack in city centers in order to
cause panic and fear among the public, said the
report.
The military is particularly focusing on point-blank
range operations on land. The territory over which
the operation may take place is being determined on
the basis of information from intelligence sources
that are mapping the locations of PKK bases located
in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'.
The Turkish parliament passed late Wednesday a
motion by 507 votes to 19, authorizing the military
to carry out incursion of Kurdistan region 'northern
Iraq' for pounding the estimated 3,000 PKK fighters.
The PKK has increased its attacks on government
troops in the heavily Kurdish southeastern of
Turkey.
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.
Iraqi Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using a
Turkey's 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', fearing this
could fan separatism among its own large Kurdish
population in southeast Turkey.
chinaview cn
**
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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