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Turkey preparing for cross-border strike
in Iraqi Kurdistan
16.11.2007
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November 16, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey is preparing for a military
strike against Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels in
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq', a senior general said
Thursday, but gave no details on the timing or scale
of such an operation.
"The parliament has authorised the cabinet (on a
cross-border operation). We are now in the process
of implementing the mandate for a cross-border
operation," said Ilker Basbug, the head of land
forces, according to Anatolia news agency.
"When and how this mandate will be implemented is,
of course, a completely separate issue," he added.
The Turkish government last month won parliament's
backing to order troops into Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq' if necessary to strike at bases used
by the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The
PKK uses the bases to launch attacks into Turkish
territory.
Turkey has subsequently massed an estimated 100,000
troops and military equipment on the border with
Iraqi Kurdistan.
Basbug stressed that the Turkish military stood
ready to launch cross-border raids against PKK,
considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, US
and EU.
"Our task...is to deliver a blow to the terrorist
organization wherever it may be, at home or abroad,
when the right conditions are in place," the general
said.
Basbug's comments came a day after Ankara said the
United States had begun to share intelligence on
rebel targets in the north of Iraq.
US President George W. Bush had promised the
intelligence during talks with Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week in
Washington.
Pressure for Turkish military action against the PKK
bases increased after October 21, when rebels
ambushed a Turkish military unit near the Iraqi
border, killing 12 troops, injuring 17 and capturing
eight.
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. 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. www.ekurd.net
Ankara fears that if the oil-rich Kirkuk joins
Kurdistan, the Kurds will have the economic
foundation they need for an independent state.
Kirkuk city is a Kurdish city and it lies just south
border of the Kurdistan autonomous region. Based on
Iraq's Constitution a referendum is to be held in
late 2007 to decide whether the oil-rich Kurdish
province should be annexed to the safe
semiautonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north.
On Tuesday, four more soldiers were killed in fresh
fighting near the border, triggering a wave of
public anger.
More than 37,000 people have died since the PKK took
up arms in 1984 for self-rule in Turkey's mainly
Kurdish southeast.
Turkey says it is left with no option but military
action because Iraq and the United States have not
done enough to curb PKK activities.
Both Washington and Baghdad oppose any large-scale
Turkish military action in northern Iraq, fearing
that it could destabilize the only relatively calm
part of the war-torn country.
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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