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Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels: Arrested
Turkish soldiers could be freed
27.10.2007
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Iraqi
Kurdistan forces chief Gen. Jabbar Yawar: Turkey
want from us to kill all PKK for them while they
themselves cannot do that
October
27, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey,-- Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels
said Saturday they are considering a lawmaker's
request for the release of eight Turkish soldiers
captured just under a week ago — an incident that
increased already heightened tensions in the area
bordering Iraqi Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq'.
In Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's
Kurdish-dominated southeast, a group of local NGOs
issued a joint statement calling on the PKK to end
the violence, while urging Turkey not to send its
troops across the border.
The groups said if Turkey sends its troops into
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq', it will "further
complicate the problem and dramatically increase the
loss of lives and cause the collapse of the regional
economy."
The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has killed
around 30 Turkish soldiers in two ambushes near the
Iraqi Kurdistan border, over the past month. Turkish
troops, meanwhile, repelled another attack by a
large Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebel group as it tried
to sneak into Turkey on Tuesday, the military said.
The PKK said it captured the eight Turkish soldiers
in an operation on Oct. 21.
Ahmet Turk, a Kurdish member of Turkey's Parliament
whose Democratic Society Party is often accused of
having ties with the separatist rebels, called
Wednesday for the release of the soldiers in an
effort to help defuse the situation.
Turkey has not officially acknowledged that the
soldiers were captured, but after the PKK released
photos and video of them, Turkey said there "appears
to be evidence there are eight soldiers being held,"
and urged that they be released unharmed.
Speaking in Kurdistan, the northern Iraqi city of
Sulaimaniyah, PKK spokesman Abdul-Rahman Al-Chaderchi
told The AP the group was working on a response.
"We are discussing the demand, and within a short
time we will end the issue of the captives," Al-Chaderchi
said. The PKK has, in the past, released captured
Turkish soldiers unharmed.
The Turkish military presence remained heavy in the
border area on Saturday, with regular patrols
securing the roads and checkpoints.
Helicopters ferried more Turkish troops to the
border area, and military units were put on alert
against a possible rebel attack, private CNN-Turk
television reported.
Military posts in the town of Cukurca, near the
Iraqi Kurdistan border, were fortified with cement
barriers designed to keep vehicles away, CNN-Turk
reported.
Col. Hussein Tamr, an Iraqi Border Guard officer,
said that Turkish forces had shelled two Iraqi
Kurdistan areas along the western portion of Iraq's
205-mile border with Turkey.
Despite military momentum and public calls for
action building in Turkey, the country's military
chief said Friday that his country would wait until
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with
President Bush on Nov. 5 in Washington before
deciding on any cross-border offensive.
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials — including the defense
minister — returned home Saturday after talks in
Ankara on Friday failed to produce any
breakthroughs.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the Iraqi side was
"approaching the issue with goodwill," but that its
suggestion of reinforcing border outposts to prevent
rebel incursions into Turkey and other offers were
not the "urgent and determined" steps needed.
Turkey has demanded the extradition of PKK leaders,
and CNN-Turk television, citing unidentified Iraqi
officials, said Ankara is seeking a total of 153 PKK
members.
Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said Saturday
that new talks can be held as long as Iraqis bring
concrete proposals, CNN-Turk television reported.
But at the same time, Iraqi Kurdistan forces chief
Brig. Gen. Jabbar Yawar, an undersecretary for the
ministry governing Kurdistan protection forces known
as Peshmerga, said his expectations for the talks
had been low.
"We expected that the talks would fail because
Turkey wants imaginary and impossible demands. They
want us to kill all PKK for them while they
themselves cannot do that," he said.
Ankara has never, and still does not, recognize the
Iraqi Kurdistan regional government (KRG) and
refuses to meet with its representatives in any
official capacity. That reflects Ankara's fear that
any international respect shown to the autonomous
Iraqi Kurdistan region would only embolden Turkey's
own Kurdish minority to seek similar home-rule
status.
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
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'. Turkey fears
this could fan separatism among its own large
Kurdish population in southeast Turkey.
AP | Agencies
**
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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