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Turkish troops kill three Kurdish PKK
rebels, one of them a woman
7.11.2007
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November 7, 2007
Tuncil, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkish troops killed three
Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels, one of them a woman, in
fighting that followed a deadly attack late Tuesday
on a military outpost in eastern Turkey, local
officials said.
An army sergeant was killed Tuesday when rebels of
the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) opened
fire on a military outpost near a village in the
eastern province of Tunceli, the provincial
governor's office said in a statement.
"Three terrorists, one of them a woman, were killed
and their weapons seized in the fighting that
ensued," said the statement carried by the Anatolia
news agency.
A military sweep of the region is continuing, it
said.
Tunceli, a PKK stronghold, where clashes between the
army and the separatists have recently intensified.
Ankara has threatened to stage a military incursion
into Kurdistan 'northern Iraq', where the PKK takes
refuge. www.ekurd.net
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, US
and EU.
Over 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.
Turkey rejects direct talks with the official Iraqi
Kurdistan government on the crisis over the Turkey's
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels,
officially, Turkey does not recognise the regional
government of Kurdistan led by president Massoud
Barzani. 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.
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.
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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