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Turkey's Kurdish PKK guerrillas are
leaving Iraqi Kurdistan for Iran
5.11.2007
By Patrick Cockburnin Kurdistan-Erbil
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November 5, 2007
Turkish Kurd PKK guerrillas are leaving Iraqi
Kurdistan for Iran in order to avoid an attack by
the Turkish army according to a former leader of the
Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK.
Osman Ocalan, brother of the imprisoned PKK leader
Abdullah Ocalan, said: "the PKK has decreased its
forces in Iraqi Kurdistan and they are moving to
Iran. It is part of PKK tactics that when they feel
pressure in one country they move to another."
President George Bush and the Turkish Prime
Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are to meet today in
Washington to discuss what can be done about the PKK
in Iraqi Kurdistan, from which it has been staging
attacks on Turkish army units.
The news that the PKK is moving its mobile fighters
into Iranian Kurdistan – where they have escalated
attacks on Iranian government forces – further
complicates any action against the guerrillas.
Mr Ocalan was at the top of Turkey's most wanted
list until he left the PKK because he had fallen in
love with a woman who was a fellow PKK fighter. PKK
rules forbade relationships between guerrillas, so
they fled the mountains in 2004, where he had lived
for 18 years, in order to marry.
As a founder member of the PKK and the brother of
its revered leader, Mr Ocalan is well informed about
the actions and intentions of the organisation. In
an interview in Arbil he estimated the total
strength of the PKK guerrillas at just under 7,000.
"There are 2,750 fighters in Turkey," he said. "A
further 2,500 are in the border areas of Iraq and
1,500 are in Iran." It is the PKK's war in Iran,
where there is a Kurdish minority of four million,
that is escalating. "In the last six months the PKK
has started a war against Iran."
"There are more and more fighters in Iranian
Kurdistan and the Iranian Kurds support the PKK
strongly." The shift of part of the PKK into Iran to
evade a Turkish military operations and to attack
Iranian forces faces the US with a problem. America
condemns the PKK when it is killing Turkish soldiers
in Turkey as "terrorists", but has not similarly
denounced the section of the PKK, known as PJAK,
which has killed as many as 150 Iranian soldiers and
police in Iran. Iran claims that the PKK receives
covert support from the US.
The PKK is skilful in exploiting the fact that the
35 million Kurds in the Middle East have no state of
their own, but are spread across eastern Turkey
(where they number 25 million), northern Iraq (five
million), Iran (four million) and Syria (one
million). "In this instance the partition of
Kurdistan works in our interests," Mr Ocalan said.
One reason for the intensification of PKK attacks on
the Turkish army is the movement's concern about the
health of its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned on
the Turkish island of Imrali in the Sea of Marmara.
"The Turks want to kill Apu [Abdullah's nickname],"
he said of his brother. "He can't breathe very
well."
independent co.uk
**
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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