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Turkey launches fresh strike inside Iraqi
Kurdistan
25.12.2007
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December
25, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq',--,
Turkish fighter planes renewed strikes on Tuesday
against Kurdish rebels based in the mountainous
border area of Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq',
a source from the Kurdish border guard forces in the
Kurdish city of Duhuk said.
Turkish warplanes bombed three villages inside Iraq
on Tuesday, targeting Turkey's PKK rebel bases in
the Kurdish province of Dohuk, an official from the
Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga security force said.
He said the air strike was "short", lasting for
around 10 minutes shortly after midday, and hit the
villages of Rikan, Shezee and Samjuhu in the region
of Al-Amadiyah near the border.
"The villages were deserted," the official said on
condition of anonymity.
Turkish warplanes have been regularly targeting the
rear-bases of rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
inside Iraqi Kurdistan in the past few days despite
protests by Baghdad. |
Turkish fighter jets bombing
Iraqi Kurdistan |
If confirmed, it would be the fifth Turkish military
operation in the past week against the separatist
PKK in Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq' , which
Ankara says the rebels use as a springboard for
attacks in Turkey.
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.
"Turkey's goal is not only the PKK but the whole
idea of an autonomous Kurdistan region," Massoud
Barzani, the President of Kurdistan said on
Kurdistan TV channel on Saturday.
The series of raids appear to have tacit approval of
US President George W. Bush, who spoke to Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.
Turkish news agency Anatolia said Bush gave his
backing for military strikes on PKK bases and that
the two men hailed the cooperation in Ankara's
battle against the outlawed group.
They agreed to continue sharing intelligence and
again classed the PKK as a "common enemy", Anatolia
said, stressing that Erdogan told Bush that Turkey's
military operations were only targeting rebels.
Turkey has stepped up pressure since its parliament
approved cross-border raids on PKK bases in October,
with Ankara saying the Iraqi government and its US
backers were not doing enough to halt attacks.
Ankara has accused Iraqi Kurds, who run autonomous
Kurdistan region in in the north of the country, of
tolerating and supporting the PKK. Kurdish
authorities in Kurdistan region strongly reject the
claim.
Iraq officials have protested over the Turkish
raids.
"We are not denying that Turkey has a right to
defend itself from extremists but some of its
actions are not serving any democratic purpose in
Turkey or in Iraq," President Jalal Talabani told
reporters.
"This will not benefit the relations between the two
countries," said Talabani, who is himself a Kurd.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a
'terrorist' group by Turkey, US and EU.
Since 1984 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 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,www.ekurd.net
the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, granting them full
political freedoms.
Turkey, which has the second largest army in the
NATO military alliance after the US with 515,000
troops, has moved around 100,000 soldiers up to its
380-kilometre (235-mile) border with Iraq.
AFP
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