|
Seven pro-Turkish village guards "Jash"
kidnapped by Kurdish PKK rebels return to Turkey
1.12.2007
|
|
|
|
December 1, 2007
Ankara, Turkey, --- Seven pro-Turkish people
who were kidnapped by Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels in
the Kurdish region of eastern Turkey in early
November returned home from Iran on Friday, the
Turkish interior ministry said.
"The seven people...entered Turkey from the border
with Iran at 3:00 am (0100 GMT) Friday and were
taken in by local paramilitary troops," the ministry
said in a written statement on its Internet site.
Officials were carrying out a comprehensive
investigation, it added.
The seven people were
kidnapped on November 11
near Baskale in the eastern Kurdish province of Van,
about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Iranian
border,www.ekurd.net
after they were stopped
by rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK).
Among the kidnapped were two members of the "village
guard", a government-armed Kurdish militia
supporting the army in the fight against the PKK
rebels, known as ("Jash" in Kurdish).
The Turkish army said at the time that the seven
were kidnapped after they resisted an attempt by PKK
rebels, referred to as a "terrorist organisation",
to extort money.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay said last week that
the kidnapped people were believed to have been
taken to Iran and that Ankara had asked Tehran's
help to find them.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, USA
and EU, has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in
mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey since 1984 in a
conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
Turkey has threatened a military incursion into
neighbouring Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' to
crack down on PKK camps there.
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.
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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 