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Turkish Kurds rally for peace near Iraqi
Kurdistan border
4.11.2007
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November 4, 2007
Silopi, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Some 5,000 Turkish Kurds protested
against a military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan
region, saying such a move would enflame ethnic
tensions in the region and plunge the local economy
into ruin.
"If there is a military incursion it will be a war
between Turks and Kurds," said 19-year old Hasan at
the rally in Silopi, the closest Turkish city to the
Iraqi Kurdistan border.
Turkey has reportedly massed 100,000 troops in
preparation to strike Iraqi Kurdistan bases of the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has
waged a bloody 23-year campaign for Kurdish
self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey
which has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
Ankara accuses the autonomous Kurdistan government
in 'northern Iraq' of sheltering and helping rebels.
This claim is strongly reject by Kurdish authorities
in Kurdistan region. |
Turkish Kurds hold posters of Abdullah Ocalan,
imprisoned leader of the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) protesting against military incursion
into Iraqi Kurdistan. |
Protesters here said they reject violence but demand
more cultural and political rights for Kurds, who
make up a fifth of Turkey's population and who have
faced widespread discrimination as a people. "We
don't want a solution by the gun, we want a solution
by the pen, through dialogue," said Ahmet Ali,
another protester. Security was tight in this
restive Kurdish-dominated region, with riot police
and snipers on nearby buildings monitoring the
peaceful rally.
The protest took place two days before a crucial
meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and US President George W. Bush, seen as a
last-ditch effort to dissuade Turkey from
cross-border military operations.
Washington and Baghdad fear a Turkish military
incursion into Iraq would wreak havoc in the most
stable part of the war-torn country.
Tensions between Iraq and Turkey rose after October
21, when PKK rebels according to Ankara came in from
northern Iraq and ambushed a military unit, killing
12 soldiers and capturing eight.
With the possibility of an internationalized
conflict, people here also fear that their economic
lifeline -- the Habur border post 15 kilometres
(nine miles) south of here -- could be cut off.
Thousands of trucks pass through that border daily,
carrying everything from construction materials to
food and household appliances into Iraq.
"If the border will close, we will have no chance to
make a living," said 19-year old Serdan, who said
everyone with a job in his his family was a truck
driver.
Turkey has already imposed some
economic sanctions
on Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' and the media
here has also speculated that the government could
decide to divert its main land transport route from
here to posts on the Syrian border. Turkey
closed its air space
Thursday to planes bound for Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq'.
Iraqi Kurds says, the PKK problem is an "internal
Turkish problem,"
Iraqi Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using
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', Turkey fears
this could fan separatism among its own large
Kurdish population in southeast Turkey. Turkey is
home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds.
Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional
government that holds sway in northern Iraq,
regretted Ankara's refusal to hold direct talks on
the crisis over the Turkey's separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) rebels. www.ekurd.net
Turkey has never, and still does not, recognize the
Kurdistan region 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
large Kurdish minority to seek similar home-rule
status.
www.ekurd.net
In Turkey, the term Kurdistan is a
politically-charged reference to Kurdish-majority
areas in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq.
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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