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Turkey denies aerial operations in Iraqi
Kurdistan
14.11.2007
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November 14, 2007
ANKARA, -- The head of Turkey's air force was
quoted on Wednesday as denying media reports that
Turkish aircraft carried out cross-border forays
into Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' targeting
Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebel positions this week.
"The Turkish air force has staged no cross-border
operations... These claims are completely baseless,"
the state Anatolian news agency quoted General
Aydogan Babaoglu as saying.
The Kurdistan regional government in northern Iraq
has
also denied
reports that Turkish attack helicopters and
warplanes seeking Kurdistan Workers Party rebels had
bombed empty villages on Tuesday morning. www.ekurd.net
Turkey sent special forces to the Iraqi border on
Tuesday to join up to 100,000 troops for a possible
cross-border incursion to root out the rebels,
blamed by Ankara for a series of deadly attacks on
its security personnel.
Since 1984 the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Reuters
**
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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