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Turkey to press on with strikes against
Kurdish rebels: PM
31.12.2007
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December
31, 2007
Ankara, -- Turkey will relentlessly press on
with cross-border raids on Turkey's Kurdish PKK
rebels in neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday.
"We will continue to use with determination
political, military, social and economic
instruments" to combat the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), Erdogan said in a monthly
address to the nation aired on television.
"The only target of the cross-border operations the
Turkish Armed Forces have conducted and will
continue to conduct is the terrorist organisation's
camps in the north of Iraq," he said.
"We have no other objective than protecting the
security of our people, our borders and our unity,"
he added, stressing that Ankara supported Iraq's
territorial integrity and stability.
The Turkish army has confirmed three air strikes on
PKK positions in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' since
December 16, in addition to a ground cross-border
operation to stop a group of rebels seeking to
infiltrate Turkey. |
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan |
Officials in Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq'
have reported two other air raids.
Faced with mounting PKK violence, Erdogan's
government obtained a one-year parliamentary
authorisation in October for cross-border military
action against the PKK, which takes refuge in the
mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan and uses rear camps
there as a springboard for attacks across the
frontier.
The United States is providing Turkey, a NATO ally,
with intelligence on PKK movements in Iraq.
At least 150 militants have been killed and more
than 200 PKK positions destroyed in the raids so
far, according to the Turkish military.
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,
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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