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Turkey ready to stage new raids against
PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan 29.12.2007
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December
29, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey, -- Turkey said Friday it
would continue its military operations against
Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels in Kurdistan 'northern
Iraq', after several attacks this month against
members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
"It was decided that the operations carried out with
success by our armed forces will be pursued with
determination," the country's national security
council (MGK) said in a statement published on its
Internet site.
The council claimed Turkish forces had inflicted
heavy losses against the PKK rebels and largely
destroyed their supply and communications systems,
while "the zones with civilian populations have not
experienced any losses."
Officials in Iraqi Kurdistan region said a strike
Wednesday targeted deserted Kurdish villages along
the border, but the extent of the damage was not
immediately known.
The MGK statement comes after three bombing raids
the army says it has launched since December 16 and
which it claims have killed more than 160 rebels.
Iraqi Kurds have reported two other air strikes this
month that Turkey has not confirmed, including a
brief one on Tuesday.
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 Turkish Kurdish 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.
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.
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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