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Turkish army 'authorised' for Iraqi
Kurdistan strike
30.11.2007
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November
30, 2007
ANKARA, -- The Turkish government authorised
the army this week to carry out a cross-border
strike against Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebel targets in
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq', Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.
"We made a decision at the cabinet meeting on
November 28 and, with the president's approval, the
Turkish armed forces were authorised regarding a
cross-border operation," Erdogan told reporters in
televised remarks.
He did not give any indication whether such an
operation was imminent.
Faced with mounting violence, the government last
month secured a parliamentary approval to order a
cross-border military operation, if necessary, to
crack down on Turkey's separatist Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) militants taking refuge in neighbouring
Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq'. |
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan |
Senior Turkish and US military commanders held two
rounds of talks in Ankara last week to discuss joint
efforts against the PKK, including enhanced
intelligence-sharing on rebel movements.
Turkish-US work on intelligence-sharing "is
continuing in harmony," Erdogan said.
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.
After talks with Erdogan at the White House in early
November, US President George W. Bush called the PKK
a common enemy and promised to provide Turkey with
real-time intelligence on rebel movements.
Bush's pledge was largely seen as tacit US approval
for limited cross-border Turkish strikes, mainly air
raids, against PKK targets in northern Iraq.
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',www.ekurd.net
Turkey fears
this could fan separatism among its own large
Kurdish population in southeast Turkey.
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.www.ekurd.net
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.
More than 37,000 people have died since the PKK,
listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, US and EU,
launched an armed campaign in 1984 for self-rule in
Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.
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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