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Kurdish PKK rebels reportedly planning
move to Azerbaijan
1.12.2007
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December 1, 2007
Ankara, Turkey, -- The Turkey's Kurdistan
Workers Party PKK may be planning a move to
Azerbaijan from Kurdistan 'northern Iraq', Turkish
intelligence reports say.
Leaders of the party, usually known by its initials,
PKK, have been discussing the move with Armenian
officials, Today's Zaman reported. They would
relocate to the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is
under Armenian control.
The Turkish parliament recently authorized military
operations across the border into Iraqi Kurdistan.
In response,www.ekurd.net
the United States and
the Iraqi government have put pressure on Kurdish
leaders to deny the PKK a base.
A former PKK member has told Turkish intelligence
that most of the camps in Iraqi Kurdistan have been
evacuated.
Former rebel leader Osman Ocalan said Kurdish PKK
rebels
have left Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Kurds are the world's largest ethnic group
without a country where they are dominant. Several
countries have large Kurdish populations.
Since 1984 the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
UPI
**
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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