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35 dead in Turkey-Kurdish PKK clashes
21.10.2007
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October
21, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkey Sunday pledged strong action
against Kurdish separatists after 12 Turkish
soldiers and 23 rebels were killed in a clash in the
southeast of the country.
Clashes erupted after a large group of Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) rebels, infiltrating from
northern Iraq, attacked the soldiers shortly after
midnight Sunday, said a statement on the general
staff's Internet site.
Sixteen Turkish soldiers were wounded in the
fighting.
Earlier reports from the region had 16 soldiers
killed, 17 wounded and about 10 missing, but made no
mention of PKK casualties.
Fighting was continuing with helicopters providing
cover for army units, the statement said.
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and top ministers and military
leaders were to meet Sunday to decide a response to
the attack which Turkey blamed on Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) rebels.
"We will make a decision at the end of our
discussion on what sort of a step we will take,"
Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul.
The government is ready to use the parliamentary
authorization it obtained Wednesday to conduct a
cross-border military strike against PKK bases in
northern Iraq, Erdogan said.
While he again indicated that there would be no rush
to carry out an incursion, the Iraqi parliament in
Baghdad passed a motion condemning Turkey's threat
to stage a raid in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan
region.
The United States is also worried about any action
that could destabilize the relatively peaceful
Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq'.
"With respect to the cross-border operation, we will
take all necessary steps within the framework of the
authorisation," he said. "We will act in a
cool-headed manner."
The Turkish general staff said in a statement that
fighting erupted after a large group of PKK rebels
infiltrated from northern Iraq and attacked the
soldiers shortly after midnight Saturday.
Sixteen Turkish soldiers were wounded in the
fighting near the village of Daglica, in a
mountainous region abutting the Iraqi border in
Hakkari province.
Clashes were continuing, with helicopters providing
air cover, the army said. Troops were monitoring the
rebels' escape routes and heavy artillery was
pounding 63 likely targets, according to the
military.
Hours after the attack, 10 civilians were injured
when a mine also blamed on PKK rebels exploded as a
minibus drove past near Daglica, sources said.
Several analysts, among them retired soldiers,
predicted that a Turkish military operation in
northern Iraq could be imminent, but Erdogan
deplored the comments as "alarmist."
In Baghdad, the Iraqi parliament condemning Turkey's
moves to launch an attack.
"Iraq's parliament unanimously votes to condemn the
threat of using force to solve the dispute. It feels
that the Turkish parliament's decision to use force
does not boost bilateral relations," the motion
said.
Iran urged Turkey Ankara to opt for diplomatic means
to resolve the dispute.
"Diplomatic means should be used and dialogue should
continue between Iraq and Turkey," foreign ministry
spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in
Tehran.
Ankara says some 3,500 PKK fighters are in bases in
Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq', which they use as
a springboard for attacks on Turkish territory.
Iraqi Kurdish authorities strongly reject the claim.
It says the rebels are supported by Iraqi Kurdish
leaders, a charge the Iraqi Kurdistan administration
strongly denies.
Last week, Erdogan called for urgent action by
Washington and Baghdad to crack down on PKK bases,
saying that Ankara had no more time to lose with
"empty words."
But he also said that his talks with US President
George W. Bush next month in Washington would be
crucial in determining Ankara's course of action
concerning a cross-border operation.
Baghdad and Washington both oppose unilateral
Turkish military action in Kurdistan region in
'northern Iraq'.
Authorities from the autonomous Kurdistan government
in the region have said they will rebuff any Turkish
attack on their territory.
Faced with rising rebel violence, Turkey says it is
running out of options other than military action as
neither the United States nor Iraq have done enough
to stamp out the rebel bases.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984
when the PKK, branded a terrorist group by Ankara,
US and EU, took up arms fighting for self-rule in
Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.
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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