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Turkish, US generals discuss Kurdish PKK
rebels; PM sees 'critical' stage
25.11.2007
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November 25, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkish and US commanders on
Saturday discussed measures against Turkey's Kurdish
PKK rebels based in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq', while
Turkey's prime minister said the struggle against
the separatists was at a "critical stage."
Turkish army chief General Yasar Buyukanit and the
head of US forces in Europe, General Bantz Craddock,
discussed "cooperation issues in the joint struggle
against the PKK terrorist organisation, including
intelligence sharing," a Turkish army statement
said.
It was the second meeting between top Turkish and US
generals this week following US pledges to provide
Turkey with real-time intelligence on the movement
of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.
PKK rebels use camps in neighbouring Kurdistan
'northern Iraq' to launch attacks across the border.
The pledge, made by US President George W. Bush in
early November, was largely seen as tacit US
approval for limited cross-border Turkish strikes,
notably air raids, against PKK targets.
"We have reached a very critical stage" against the
PKK, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a
televised speech at a meeting of his Justice and
Development Party in Kizilcahamam, near Ankara.
"The terrorist organisation is besieged from all
sides," he said, adding that Ankara was employing a
strategy combining military, political and
diplomatic means with international support.
The PKK, listed as a 'terrorist' group by Turkey, US
and EU, has waged a bloody campaign for self-rule in
mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey since 1984. The
conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives. www.ekurd.net
Erdogan said more efforts were needed to finish off
the PKK, issuing a strong appeal for expanding the
rights of the Kurdish community to erode support for
separatism.
"Let's maintain pluralistic democracy and strengthen
the climate of freedoms in order to secure the
ultimate result in the struggle against terrorism...
All experience shows that there is no other way
out," he said.
"Let's look together for ways of winning over the
people instead of alienating them," he added.
Faced with mounting PKK violence, the government
obtained parliamentary authorisation last month for
a military incursion into Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'.
A PKK rebel was killed Saturday as part of an
ongoing security sweep near the Iraqi border,
Anatolia news agency reported.
Keen to head off a large-scale Turkish cross-border
operation, the United States and the Iraqi Kurds,
who run Kurdistan autonomous region in 'northern
Iraq', have agreed to step up measures to curb the
PKK.
But Erdogan has also faced mounting calls to back
the military struggle with political, social and
economic measures to boost the freedoms and the
prosperity of the sizeable Kurdish community.
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.
He stressed Saturday that Turkey should convince the
Kurds to seek their rights through politics.
"If we are to get rid of terrorism, this can become
possible by keeping open the door of democratic
politics as a way of solving problems and seeking
rights," he said.
Erdogan renewed an appeal to Turkey's main Kurdish
political movement, the Democratic Society Party
(DTP), to sever alleged links with the PKK.
"Those who fail to abide by democracy and law can
never be accepted to talk tall about being
victimised," he said.
Turkey's chief prosecutor last week asked the
Constitutional Court to outlaw the DTP, arguing that
the party, through its links with the PKK, had
become "a hive of activity" targeting the country's
unity.
The DTP holds 20 seats in the 550-member parliament.
Under European Union pressure, Ankara has in recent
years granted the Kurds a measure of cultural
freedoms.
Activists, however, say the reforms are inadequate.
They have called notably for a general amnesty for
the PKK to encourage it to lay down arms, but Ankara
has so far dismissed the proposal.
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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