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Eight more Kurdish PKK rebels killed in SE
Turkey clashes
5.12.2007
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December
5, 2007
Sirnak, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Eight Turkey's Kurdish PKK
militants were killed in a military offensive
against a rebel hideout in southeast Turkey near the
Iraqi-Kurdistan border, the Turkish army said
Wednesday.
The latest deaths raised to 14 the number of
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels killed in the
Kupeli mountains in Sirnak province in two days, the
statement said.
An army captain also died in fighting Tuesday.
Weapons, ammunition and documents belonging to the
militants were seized, the statement said.
It said the PKK rebels involved were believed to be
among those who ambushed a military unit on October
21, killing 12 soldiers and capturing eight in an
incident that shocked Turkey and raised tensions as
Ankara threatened to strike at PKK bases in
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'.
Turkey has since massed an estimated 100,000 troops
along the border with Kurdistan region 'Iraq', where
the PKK takes refuge.
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.
On Saturday, the army said it inflicted "heavy
losses" when it struck a group of some 60 PKK
fighters in its first raid on Kurdistan 'northern
Iraq' since the government gave it the go-ahead last
week to conduct cross-border operations.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by
Turkey, US and EU.
Faced with mounting PKK violence, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government secured
parliamentary approval in October to order
cross-border operations against PKK targets if
necessary.
After talks with Erdogan at the White House in early
November, US President George W. Bush called the PKK
a "common enemy" and promised to provide Turkey with
real-time intelligence on rebel movements.
Bush's pledge was largely seen as tacit US approval
for limited cross-border Turkish strikes, mainly air
raids, against the rebels.
The PKK has waged a bloody campaign for self-rule in
mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey since 1984 in a
conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
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
the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, granting them full
political freedoms.
AFP | 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,
large Kurdish community 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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