|
U.S. Pentagon giving Turkey intelligence
on Kurdish PKK rebels
17.12.2007
|
|
|
|
December
17, 2007
WASHINGTON, -- The United States has given
Turkey intelligence to track Turkey's Kurdish PKK
fighters hiding in Iraqi Kurdistan, a Pentagon
spokesman said on Monday, but he would not say
whether Washington gave Ankara precise targets used
in weekend raids.
U.S. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman also
would not say whether the United States gave Turkey
prior approval to use Iraqi air space to conduct the
strikes.
"The United States continues to assist with
information to the Turkish government that will help
them deal with the insurgent situation that they
have up there," Whitman said.
The Pentagon had said it was helping Turkey gain the
"actionable" intelligence needed for a strike
against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.
Actionable intelligence refers to information that
can be acted upon, such as data that pinpoints the
location of a target for a military strike.
Asked specifically whether the United States gave
Turkey targets used in weekend raids, Whitman said
he would not "get into details like that."
He said the Pentagon was providing information that
would be "helpful in dealing with this insurgent
terrorist threat."
When told by reporters that his answer implied the
Pentagon had indeed provided such "actionable
intelligence," Whitman said, "That's probably OK."
A three-hour offensive over the weekend, reported to
involve some 50 fighter jets,www.ekurd.net
also included ground
forces shelling suspected Turkey's PKK positions in
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'.
Iraq summoned the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad to
protest the bombing.
The State Department too would not say whether the
United States gave Turkey a green light for the
strikes.
"We face a common enemy -- Turkey, the United States
and Iraq -- from the PKK. It's a terrorist
organization and we certainly want to see actions
taken to put it out of business," said State
Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey.
"We also want to make sure that whatever is done is
coordinated to the extent possible between Turkey
and Iraq."
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. A large Turkey's Kurdish community
openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in southeast of Turkey.
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.
The (PKK) KONGRA-GEL released an
official declaration
reiterating their desire for negotiations with the
Turkish government.
The PKK is listed as a "terrorist" group by Turkey,
US and EU.
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,
a 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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 