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Turkish forces deal 'heavy blow' to
Kurdish PKK rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan
19.12.2007
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December
19, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey's military said it dealt a
"heavy blow" to Turkey's Kurdish PKK separatist
rebels based in neighbouring Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq' in a cross-border ground operation
on Tuesday and in air raids at the weekend.
"A small-scale operation conducted by ground troops
as part of hot pursuit... dealt a heavy blow" on a
group of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants
who had tried to infiltrate Turkey overnight, the
Turkish military said on its website late Tuesday.
The troops penetrated "several kilometres" into
Kurdistan in 'northern Iraq' from the southeast
Turkish province of Hakkari, the statement said.
It did not indicate how many troops took part in the
incursion, which began overnight after the army
"received images" of a rebel group attempting to
sneak across the border.
Local Iraqi officials said about 500 soldiers
crossed into remote areas in northern Iraq and began
withdrawing by Tuesday afternoon.
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, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara, US
and EU.
The incursion followed Turkish air and artillery
strikes Sunday on positions in Kurdistan 'northern
Iraq' along the Turkish frontier and in the Qandil
mountains to the east, where the PKK is known to
have camps.
"It is not possible to give the number of PKK
terrorists rendered ineffective in the air
offensive," the army said Tuesday.
"But it is a fact that the PKK suffered very heavy
losses both in terms of infrastructure and human
resources," it said.
The military also issued a fresh denial that
civilians were hit in the raids, blaming reports of
villages being bombed and hospitals and schools
destroyed on PKK sympathisers among Iraqi officials
seeking to mislead the international community.
"Such reports are the result of panic and a clear
demonstration of the support given to the PKK by
some people who are influential in the north of Iraq
and in the Iraqi central government," it said.
Ankara has accused Iraqi Kurds, who run the
autonomous Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq', of
tolerating and even supporting the PKK. Kurdish
authorities in Kurdistan region strongly reject the
claim.
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.
"It is obvious that... hundreds of civilians would
have died if inhabited villages were bombed," the
military's statement said.
The PKK has said that five of its members and two
civilians died in the bombing. Local officials said
a woman was killed.
Earlier Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said the military was doing "what is
necessary" to combat the PKK, which has stepped up
violence this year.
"Our army is doing what is necessary and will
continue to do so.... Terrorism is not a local
phenomenon, it is international," Erdogan said.
Erdogan insisted that Turkey has no claims against
Iraq's territorial integrity nor any hostility for
its civilians.
"But there are PKK camps there.... (The PKK) are
terrorists, they are our enemies," he added.
The army voiced determination to continue
cross-border operations in line with a parliamentary
authorisation in October that approved such
incursions to end the safe haven the PKK enjoys in
northern Iraq.
Turkish chief of staff General Yasar Buyukanit has
said the United States gave the green light for
Sunday's air raids by providing "intelligence" and
opening Iraqi airspace.
Tacit US support for the incursion came with the
Pentagon promising to keep supplying Ankara with
intelligence to "deal with" the PKK and the White
House calling the group "a threat" to Turkey, the
United States and Iraq.
After talks with Erdogan in November, US President
George W. Bush called the PKK a common enemy and
promised to provide its NATO ally with real-time
intelligence on rebel movements.
Bush's pledge was seen as tacit US approval for
limited cross-border Turkish strikes against the PKK
to head off the threat of a large-scale Turkish
incursion into northern Iraq.
However a prominent think tank said Wednesday that
Turkey can probably never defeat the PKK, and
cross-border attacks on its bases in Iraq are almost
certainly futile.
"The PKK is a well-motivated force that enjoys local
support and the protection afforded by the
inaccessible terrain of the border regions," Chatham
House said in a report.
"Turkey can probably never defeat the PKK and any
further incursions across the border are likely to
be futile," it added.
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
**
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 Turkey's 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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