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Military news blackout on captured Turkish
soldiers' trial
13.11.2007
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November 13, 2007
ANKARA, -- The Turkish military has clamped a
news blackout on the upcoming court martial of eight
soldiers held captive for two weeks by Kurdish
rebels following an ambush last month near the Iraqi
Kurdistan border.
The media were notified by fax, a copy of which
reached AFP overnight, of the ruling by a military
tribunal in Van, eastern Turkey, at a non-trial
hearing on Monday.
The soldiers are being court martialed for neglect
of duty.
The tribunal ruled that the blackout was necessary
because the information and documents to be
presented in the case were "of a nature that require
secrecy in the interest of national security." |
Eight Turkish soldiers freed last week by Turkey's
Kurdish PKK rebels have been charged by the Tukish
military |
The three-man court said the eight soldiers,
released on November 4 and arrested one week later,
were being tried for "acting contrary to the
requirements of civil service duty, persistent
insubordination resulting in great loss, and
escaping abroad."
It says they "abandoned their positions in
conformity with terrorist appeals and went to
terrorist camps in northern Iraq along with the
terrorists."
The October 21 ambush by rebels from the Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), just a few
kilometres (miles) from the Iraqi Kurdistan border,
left 12 Turkish soldiers dead, 17 injured and eight
"missing in action," according to the army.
The attack shocked Turkey and put pressure on the
government to take military action against PKK bases
in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'.
The PKK's campaign for self-rule in the mainly
Kurdish southeast Turkey has claimed more than
37,000 lives since it began in 1984.
Turkey says the rebel group, listed as a terrorist
organization by Turkey, US and EU, enjoys support
from the autonomous Kurdistan administration in
northern Iraq, from where it launches deadly attacks
on targets inside Turkey. Kurdish authorities in
Kurdistan region strongly reject these claims. www.ekurd.net
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.
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 rejects direct talks with Iraqi Kurdistan
government, Officially, Turkey does not recognise
the regional government of Kurdistan led by
president Massoud Barzani.
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.
Turkey has massed nearly 100,000 troops on its
border with Iraqi Kurdistan and threatened a
cross-border incursion.
Although military action remains a possibility,
tensions seem to have eased after talks at the White
House last week between US President George W. Bush
and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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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