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Turkish military incursion is not just
about the PKK
20.11.2007
By Dorian Jones
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Turkish soldiers continue Iraqi Kurdistan border
deployment
November 20, 2007
Turkey-Iraqi Kurdistan border, -- Turkey is
still massing tens of thousands soldiers on the
Iraqi Kurdistan border, a response to a series of
attacks by Turkey's Kurdish PKK militants that have
claimed the lives of more than 50 soldiers and
civilians. Rebels of the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers
Party or PKK, many based in 'northern Iraq', have
been fighting Turkey for autonomy for more than 20
years. But reports from Istanbul, the expected
Turkish military incursion is not just about the PKK.
Turkish tanks continue to move toward the Iraqi
border, joining an estimated 100,000 soldiers backed
by helicopter gun ships and fighter jets.
This has been Turkey's largest military build up
since 1997 when 200,000 soldiers were involved in an
operation against PKK bases in Iraqi Kurdistan.
But the effectiveness of such cross border
operations remains in doubt. Despite numerous
incursions into the mountainous border region over
the past 20 years, former Turkish generals and
analysts say the operations have had only limited
success.
International relations expert Soli Ozel at Bilgi
University in Istanbul says any military operation
will have wider objectives than just fighting the
PKK.
"PKK is only one aspect of it, the other aspect of
it is the nature of the Kurdish entity in northern
Iraq and the defiance of Barzani, and most
importantly the issue of Kirkuk," Ozel said.
Massoud Barzani is president of the semi-autonomous
Kurdistan region in 'Iraq', where many PKK bases are
located. Ankara has repeatedly accused Barzani of
giving indirect if not direct support to the
separatists, as part of an alleged strategy of using
the PKK to further his goal of creating an
independent Kurdish state, which Turkey opposes. www.ekurd.net
Barzani strongly denies the charges. But key to the
creation of a Kurdish state would be control of the
oil rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk, according to retired
general Armagan Kuloglu, now head of a Turkish
research institute.
"If Kirkuk is involved to this place, this state
will gain an extra and huge economic power. And the
aim of the Kurdish people, to create a greater
Kurdistan," Kuloglu said. "And a greater Kurdistan
territory covers some Turkish territory, some Iran
territory and some Syrian territory."
According to Iraq's constitution, Kirkuk must hold a
referendum by December to decide whether the city
will join the semi autonomous Kurdistan region. Most
analysts predict the vote will be in favor given the
city's large Kurdish population. But Ankara has been
lobbying for the referendum to be indefinitely
postponed. Turkey wants special status for Kirkuk so
that the city's ethnic Turkish population is
protected.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a
meeting earlier this month with President Bush,
again pressed the issue.
Barzani claims the city as the Kurds' historical
capital and earlier this year warned of serious
consequences if Ankara interferes.
He said Turkey must not intervene in the Kirkuk
issue, and if it does, the Kurds will interfere in
Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mostly Kurdish
area of southeastern Turkey.
Such threats, according to analysts, have fueled
Turkish nationalism, with anti-PKK demonstrations
like this one occurring almost daily. Analysts say
the widespread anger at Iraqi Kurds is forcing the
government into an uncompromising stance, despite
calls for restraint from the U.S.
Soli Ozel says Iraqi Kurdish leaders must tone down
their words and their actions, and Turkey should
reciprocate.
"Still, their best chance is to have good relations
with Turkey, which by the way Turkish constructors
are building northern Iraq for them," Ozel said.
"And that requires that Barzani take a more
conciliatory position vis-a-vis Turkey. That would
also necessitate a reciprocation on the part of
Turkey, basically accepting that there is a either a
federative (federal) state or independence." www.ekurd.net
With Turkish troops massed on the Iraqi border, talk
of compromise and a diplomatic solution seems
unrealistic for now.
Observers say defusing regional tensions will
involve not only dealing with the PKK, but resolving
the far deeper question about the direction of
Kurdish nationalism and, in particular, the fate of
the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
voanews com
Kirkuk city is a
Kurdish city and it lies just
south border of the Kurdistan autonomous region and
it is not under the full control of Kurdistan
Regional Government administration, the population
is a mix of majority Kurds and minority of Arabs,
Christians and
Turkmen. lies 250 km northeast of Baghdad.
The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein forced
over 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up their
homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city
and the region's oil industry.
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.
**
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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