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Turkey fires on PKK rebels inside Iraqi
Kurdistan
1.12.2007
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December 1, 2007
ANKARA, -- The Turkish army said it inflicted
"heavy losses" on a group of around 50 members of
the Turkey's armed Kurdish separatist movement PKK
in Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' on Saturday.
The army said it used artillery and airstrikes
against a group of "50 to 60 terrorists" southeast
of the Turkish town of Cukurca in Kurdish Hakkari
province on the Turkey-Iraqi Kurdistan border.
"If necessary other army units will intervene in the
region," it added.
Contacted in the Iraqi Kurdistan's capital of Erbil,
Fuad Hussein, chief of staff for Massoud Barzani, the
president of Iraq's Kurdistan region, did not
categorically confirm the strikes but said "it could
be artillery shelling."
www.ekurd.net
said there had been no
incursion by Turkish troops into the autonomous
Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.
He said a ground assault by Turkish forces was
unexpected given the "prevailing weather
conditions."
The Turkish army said it could step up its
"intervention" in the region if this was needed.
"The winter and heavy snow is not favourable for a
ground assault."
Jabbar Yawar, the head of Kurdish peshmerga special
forces in Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq', said
without elaborating that Turkish aircraft were
"trespassing northern Iraqi airspace since a week."
Tensions along the Turkish-Iraqi Kurdistan border
increased after October 21, when PKK militants
ambushed a military unit, killing 12 soldiers and
capturing eight. The captives were released in
November.
Soon after, the Turkish government secured
parliamentary approval for cross-border military
operations into Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq'.
The United States and the Iraqi government are keen
to avert a large scale incursion.
In recent weeks, about 100,000 Turkish soldiers have
been deployed along the border with Iraqi Kurdistan,
in the mainly Kurdish south-east region of Turkey.
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.
Saturday's operation comes days after the cabinet of
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan authorised the
army to carry out a cross-border operation against
Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq -- a month after the
green light from parliament.
The Turkish parliament's decision last month
provoked a flurry of diplomatic activity between
Turkey, Iraq and the United States.
Baghdad promised to rein in the Kurdish rebels in
the north of the country, and in early November
President George W. Bush said the United State would
provide "real-time" information on PKK movements
from its satellites.
www.ekurd.net
Ankara nevertheless made it clear that it would be
keeping its options open and refused to rule out a
military response to any PKK activity.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara, US
and EU, has waged a 23-year armed campign for
Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's southeast. The
conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
AFP | Reuters
**
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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