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PKK sets terms for renouncing violence,
demands Turkey's recognition of the Kurds identity
3.12.2007
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December
3, 2007
Baghdad, -- The separatist Turkey's
Kurdistan's Workers Party (PKK) announced on Sunday
conditions for renouncing violence and becoming part
of the political process in Turkey.
As a main condition, 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
according to a statement
received by DPA.
The party also demanded an end to ethnic
discrimination in Turkish laws and constitution
against Kurds, granting them full political freedoms
and the release of all PKK members in Turkish
custody.
Other conditions were the withdrawal of Turkish
troops from Kurdish areas in southern Turkey and
setting a timeframe for PKK fighters to give up arms
and be part of the democratic process.
PKK rebels operating from predominantly Kurdish
northern Iraq escalated the conflict with Turkey
after its rebels attacked and abducted Turkish
soldiers in October.
The incidents prompted Ankara to threaten to launch
cross-border military operations to seek out PKK
rebels.
Since 1984 the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
DPA
**
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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