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Kurds mix fear and defiance on
Turkey-Iraqi Kurdistan border
23.10.2007
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October
23, 2007
SENOBA, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Kurdish villagers living in the mountains
along the Turkish-Iraqi Kurdistan border fear their
lives will be shattered if Ankara sends troops into
Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' to crush Turkey's
Kurdish PKK guerrillas hiding there.
"We live on this border. Like it or not, we'll be
torn apart if there is a cross-border operation,"
said Mehmet Gun, 25, an official in the village
administration.
"The military already shoots its artillery and a
shell can land in the middle of the village. Do we
want more of this?"
Teams of soldiers swept the road winding through the
village of Senoba early on Tuesday for any bombs and
mines laid by rebels, ahead of the arrival of yet
another convoy of military vehicles and artillery
heading towards the border.
The dull thud of artillery echoed through the
valleys as helicopters hovered overhead for
surveillance.
The Turkish military has stepped up its presence in
the area since Sunday when rebels of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) killed at least 12
Turkish soldiers in clashes near the border. Eight
more soldiers are missing.
Ankara has amassed tens of thousands of troops for a
possible cross-border offensive against the PKK,
which has for years used mainly Kurdish northern
Iraq as a launchpad for attacks on security and
civilian targets inside Turkey.
Diplomats and politicians in Ankara, Washington and
Baghdad are struggling to avert military escalation
and the villagers believe they will be the biggest
losers from any incursion.
POVERTY, DEFIANCE
"We don't want the PKK and we don't want the
military. We don't want their bullets or their
bombs," said Savas Babat, a young labourer.
"There's no work and we are already poor and I'm
sure people across the border are just as poor. Why
more violence?"
The local price of flour has risen nearly 20 percent
since talk of a cross-border operation began, Gun
said.
Some in the region revealed defiant support for the
PKK, even though rebel attacks have increased
poverty by scaring investors away from southeast
Turkey.
"Relations (between Kurds and Turks) have broken
down. The only way for Kurds now is to create their
own state," said Mahmut Ciq, 43, a worker in the
Kurdish regional capital Diyarbakir.
"If necessary, I will grab my weapons, go out into
the street and fight (the Turkish troops)."
Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than
37,000 people since the group launched its armed
campaign for an ethnic homeland in the mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey in 1984. Around 40
Turkish soldiers have been killed in rebel attacks
in the past month alone.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government has eased
some restrictions on the Kurds' culture and
language, and boosted social welfare schemes in
Kurdish provinces, Turkey's poorest. These moves
earned his AK Party support here in July elections.
But some Kurds say it is not enough.
"Things can get better only if Turkey can find a
solution, with more cultural rights, more media
freedom and the right to use Kurdish. If it does
not, things will get more difficult," said Yusuf
Kabak, a driver in the town of Sirnak.
"The mountains are already full now (with PKK
fighters). This is a fire that cannot be
extinguished."
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)
wikipedia
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