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Turkey pounds PKK rebels, warns US over
ties
30.10.2007
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October
30, 2007
SIRNAK, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- The Turkish army pounded Kurdish
rebels near the Iraqi Kurdistan border Tuesday as
Ankara warned that ties with Washington would suffer
as long as the Turkey's separatists enjoyed
sanctuary in Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq'.
Cobra helicopters fired missiles at rebel positions
on the Cudi mountains in Sirnak province, which
borders Iraq, where fighting was continuing for a
second day. Three soldiers have been killed in the
clashes, officials said.
Smoke from artillery fire could be seen above the
rugged hills while at least one Sikorsky transport
helicopter dropped off troops and a convoy of
military trucks headed for the Iraqi border.
The fighting comes after about 100 members of the
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were
killed Monday in neighbouring Hakkari province after
the army surrounded them and blocked their escape
routes to Iraq.
And on the weekend one soldier was killed during a
large-scale crackdown on the rebels in Tunceli
province to the north. The army has not confirmed
reports that 15 PKK militants were also killed in
the clashes.
In Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
warned the United States that its failure to help
end the PKK safe haven in northern Iraq would harm
the relationship between the two long-standing NATO
allies.
Scheduled to meet US President George W. Bush at the
White House on November 5, Erdogan called for
"concrete, urgent steps" against the PKK, which
Washington, like most of the international
community, considers a terrorist group.
"The problem of the PKK terrorist organisation is a
sincerity test for everybody," Erdogan said. "I will
tell him (Bush) that this test carries great
importance for the region and in determining the
fate of our future relations."
He said he would discuss "the groups on which the
terrorist organisation relies" -- an apparent
reference to the Iraqi Kurds, who administer
northern Iraq and are accused by Ankara of
tolerating and even supporting the PKK.
"Our talks (with Bush) will make them better
understand that Turkey's patience has run out and
that we are determined to unhesitatingly take all
the steps to finish off terrorism," he said.
The Turkish army has reportedly massed about 100,000
troops along the Iraqi border after parliament gave
approval for a military incursion into Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq' to root out the militants.
Tensions at the frontier increased after October 21
when PKK rebels, who Turkey says infiltrated from
northern Iraq, ambushed a military unit and killed
12 soldiers. Eight troops were captured.
The army has confirmed killing 65 rebels since then.
The crisis will enter a crucial diplomatic stage
Thursday when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
arrives in Ankara for talks with Turkish leaders
before Erdogan's Washington visit.
Rice will then participate in a multilateral
conference on Iraq in Istanbul on Friday and
Saturday, which Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar
Zebari will also attend.
Washington, strongly opposed to Turkish military
action in northern Iraq, is stuck in an awkward
position between two key allies -- NATO member
Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds.
Defying Turkish pressure, Massoud Barzani, the
president of Kurdistan regional government in
northern Iraq, said he would take no "orders" from
Ankara to crack down on the PKK bases.
"I am a friend of Turkey but I am not taking orders
from Turkey or anyone else," Barzani told Turkey's
Milliyet newspaper in an interview published
Tuesday.
He urged the PKK to lay down arms and called on
Turkey to consider a political solution to the
Kurdish problem, including a general amnesty for the
rebels.
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. Turkey is
home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds.
Ankara has never, and still does not, recognize the
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.
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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