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How to Talk Turkey in Baghdad
29.12.2007
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December
29, 2007
For close to two weeks, Turkey has been targeting
the guerrillas of the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) inside Iraqi Kurdistan territory. And
they are not unhappy with the response of the
Americans, who control the skies over Iraq. The
Turkish President, according to Turkey's
state-controlled media, has praised the United
States for providing intelligence that was used by
the Turkish military in its operations. America too
has backed Turkey's right to go after the PKK, which
it has long called a "terrorist organization."
But down in Baghdad, the Americans are not keen to
associate themselves with the specifics of Turkey's
campaign against the PKK. At a press conference
Wednesday spokesmen for the U.S. military and the
American embassy repeatedly said that questions
about the raids should be asked of the Turkish and
Iraqi governments, not the U.S. military in Iraq.
Maj. Gen.www.ekurd.net
Kevin Bergner said that
American military cooperation with Turkey comes
through the U.S.'s European Command; American forces
in Iraq are under a separate regional chain of
command.
Philip Reeker, the U.S. embassy's spokesman,
stressed that the raids were "Turkish decisions." He
cast the U.S. in the role of observer, saying that
it would "continue to watch this situation closely."
Over the weekend, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan
Crocker said that defanging the PKK should be done
in "a way that does not create problems of
instability inside Iraq."
The trickiness of the political climate was apparent
earlier in the week, when Iraq's President, who is a
Kurd, its Sunni Arab vice president and the
President of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
met in northern Iraq and denounced the Turkish
raids. "We condemn operations and they should be
ended as soon as possible," said Massoud Barzani,
the KRG head. But the condemnation was not as
full-throated as it could have been. President Jalal
Talibani stressed that Iraqis valued Turkey's
friendship, and said that he hoped problems could be
addressed through diplomacy.
While the United States walks its tightrope, the
Kurds are walking theirs. They are not happy with
Turkish incursions. But they are also well aware
that shielding the PKK, and provoking Turkey, could
risk the autonomy and relative peace Kurds now enjoy
within Iraq. Like the Americans, Iraq's Kurdish
leaders may simply hope that the Turks finish their
raids as quickly — and with as little publicity — as
possible.
Turkey has massed up to 100,000 soldiers in its
southeast near the Iraqi Kurdistan border, and in
October the Ankara government secured a one-year
parliamentary authorisation for cross-border
military action to hunt down Turkish Kurdish PKK
rebels.
Iraqi Kurdistan 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.
Over 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. A
large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, granting them full
political freedoms.
The group is listed as a "terrorist organisation" by
Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
time com
**
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, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community 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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