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Over 40 vehicles torched in Turkey in the
past two weeks 28.12.2007
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December
28, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey-- Assailants wearing
balaclavas torched at least 10 vehicles overnight in
Istanbul and the southern city of Adana, news
agencies reported Thursday, raising the number of
vehicles vandalized across Turkey in the past two
weeks to more than 40.
The attacks have coincided with a Turkish military
assault against Turkey's separatist Kurdish PKK
rebels hideouts both inside Turkey and across the
border in Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq'.
Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler blamed Kurdish PKK
militants and other outlawed groups, but said some
attacks also had been carried out by vandals without
political motives.
More than 40 cars have been set on fire in Istanbul
and other cities in the past two weeks — mostly in
overnight firebomb attacks.
The most recent attacks targeted cars parked outside
of a building complex housing police officers,
private CNN-Turk television reported.
In Adana, assailants doused a bus with gasoline and
set it on fire, state-run Anatolia news agency said.
Pro-Kurdish news agency Firat News reported Thursday
that the vehicles were attacked in response to
Turkish raids on Kurdish PKK rebel targets, and said
some incidents had been claimed by a small militant
Kurdish group.
Turkish warplanes have
carried out air strikes regularly in the past few
days against the hideouts of Turkish rebel Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) who use the mountainous
of Iraqi Kurdistan region as a springboard for attacks
inside Turkey.
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.
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. 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.
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.
AP
**
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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