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PKK fears imminent air strike on Iraqi
Kurdistan bases: report
8.11.2007
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November 8, 2007
ANKARA, -- The Turkey's Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) fears an imminent Turkish air strike on
its bases in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' following US
pledges to help Turkey combat the separatist group,
a pro-PKK news agency reported Thursday.
US surveillance planes have been over flying PKK
camps in the Qandil mountains near the Iranian
border for the past four days, focusing on locations
where PKK commanders are based, the Firat news
agency quoted sources close to the PKK as saying.
"It is believed that an air strike is imminent,"
said the agency, considered to be a PKK mouthpiece.
"It is reported that the PKK is increasing its
counter-measures and will respond strongly in case
of an attack."
"The PKK has written to the US authorities in Iraq
and asked them to stop the over flights and avoid
any steps that could lead to instability," the
agency reported on its web site.
None of the Firat report could be independently
confirmed.
After talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan on Monday, President George W. Bush pledged
to provide Ankara with "real-time" intelligence on
rebel movements, calling the PKK a "common enemy."
Analysts say a large-scale Turkish incursion into
northern Iraq is unlikely, but see Bush's promises
of intelligence support as tacit US approval for
limited Turkish strikes on PKK targets.
Ankara said Tuesday that it retains the military
option in northern Iraq, where the PKK has long
taken refuge.
Firat reported that the Iraqi Kurdish authorities in
autonomous Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq', have
stepped up measures restricting Turkey's rebel
movements, setting up checkpoints on roads leading
to PKK camps. www.ekurd.net
"Only villagers who live in those areas are allowed
to travel freely," it said.
Iraq said at the weekend that the government and the
Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq were enacting
measures to curb the PKK, including new checkpoints.
Firat said the Iraqi Kurds are expected to condone a
possible Turkish strike, "showing once again that
(they) are part of this plan" against the PKK.
Turkey has accused the Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and
aiding the PKK, but they have come under US pressure
to act against the rebels to head off a large-scale
Turkish incursion.
Tensions along the Turkish-Iraqi border increased
after October 21, when PKK militants ambushed a
military unit, killing 12 soldiers and capturing
eight. The captives were released Sunday.
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.
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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