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The PKK: Two decades of struggle against
Turkey
2.12.2007
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December
2, 2007
ANKARA, -- The Turkey's Kurdistan Workers'
Party, whose guerrillas the Turkish army said
Saturday it attacked in Kurdistan region 'northern
Iraq' with airstrikes and artillery, has been waging
an armed nationalist campaign for 23 years.
The party, known as PKK from its Kurdish language
initials, was set up in 1978 to demand an
independent state in southeastern Anatolia, the part
of Turkey where most of the country's Kurds live.
It launched an armed struggle in August 1984; since
then the conflict is believed to have cost over
37,000 lives in all.
The Kurds, one of the largest ethnic groups in the
world which has never had a state of its own, are
scattered across four countries: southeastern
Turkey, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and
northern Syria.
Turkey is believed to be home to the largest single
community of ethnic Kurds -- between 20 and 25
million, out of a total population of between 30 and
40 million.
The proximity of the border with Iraq, and the
creation there of a autonomous Kurdistan region,www.ekurd.net
a Kurdish administrated
region after the first US-led liberation war against
Saddam Hussein in 1991, has provided PKK militants
with a haven.
Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule in
part of the country. Today's teenagers are the first
generation to grow up under Kurdish rule. In the new
Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as Kurdistan
region.www.ekurd.net
Kurdistan region has all
the trappings of an independent state -- its own
constitution, its own parliament, its own flag, its
own army, its own border, its own border patrol, its
own national anthem, its own education system, its
own International airports, even its own stamp inked
into the passports of visitors.
Most of the group's guerrillas are currently
believed to be there, while its political leadership
operates mainly out of Western capitals.
Over the years, the PKK's demands have evolved from
outright independence to autonomy within a federal
Turkey, plus an amnesty for its militants.
Turkey, which captured the PKK's founder and leader
Abdullah Ocalan in 1999 and has since jailed him for
life, has systematically refused the group's
demands, and has also turned down successive offers
of ceasefires proposed by the guerrillas.
In common with the United States and the European
Union, Turkey views the PKK as a 'terrorist'
organisation and therefore refuses to have any
contact with it.
According to the International Institute of
Strategic Studies in London, the PKK currently has
between 3,000 and 5,000 active guerrillas.
Although that is probably less than half of its
strength during the first phase of the struggle,
between 1984 and 1999, it is probable that Turkey's
latest operations in Iraq will attract new recruits,
according to analysts.
In recent years Turkey's actions against the PKK
have been limited by the country's desire to become
a member of the European Union, which has laid down
a number of conditions relating to human rights and
the recognition of ethnic minorities.
Ocalan, who is being held in an island prison in
northwestern Turkey,www.ekurd.net
still has considerable
influence over the group's operations, but its main
military leader is Murat Karayilan, a hardliner who
is believed to be in Kurdistan region in so called
'northern Iraq'.
AFP | Agencies
**
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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