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Turkish troops hunt down Kurdish PKK
rebels near Iraqi Kurdistan border 27.12.2007
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December
27, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkish troops, backed by
helicopters, launched a fresh operation Thursday
against Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels in the country's
southeast near the Iraqi Kurdistan border, local
security sources said.
Soldiers were scouring the rugged Kupeli and Gabar
mountains in Sirnak province for Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) rebels under air cover from Cobra attack
helicopters and support from Sikorsky troop
carriers, said the sources on condition of
anonymity.
The general staff said on Wednesday that troops
killed 11 PKK rebels and captured two others in the
mountains of Sirnak since Tuesday.
There were no reports of a fresh cross-border
operation after Turkish warplanes bombed PKK targets
in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' on Wednesday, the third
such bombing raid that the army has confirmed since
December 16.
Turkey has massed up to 100,000 soldiers in its
southeast near the Iraqi Kurdistan border, and in
October the Ankara government secured a one-year
parliamentary authorisation for cross-border
military action to hunt down PKK rebels.
Iraqi Kurdistan 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.
Analysts believe the Turkish raids had a secondary
purpose of discouraging a quick referendum on Kirkuk
city, oil rich Kurdish city of Kirkuk lies just
south border of the Kurdistan autonomous region.
Article 140, in Iraq's 2005 constitution calls for a
referendum in Kirkuk to decide whether the oil-rich
Kurdish province should be annexed to the safe
semiautonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north by
the end of 2007.
In December 2007,
Kurdish leaders agreed to a six-month extension of
that deadline, but no longer.
Ankara fears that if the oil-rich Kirkuk joins
Kurdistan, the Kurds will have the economic
foundation they need for an independent state.
Over 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
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 group is listed as a terrorist organisation by
Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
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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