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Turkey: Four killed in clashes between Turkish
forces and Kurdish rebels
8.4.2007 |
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April
8, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Two Turkish soldiers and two
Kurdish rebels were killed in clashes in mainly
Kurdish southeastern Turkey, security officials said
Saturday.
The clashes between the members of the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) and Turkish forces happened
late Friday in the areas of Bitlis and Sirnak near
the Iraq border, officials said, adding that four
others were injured.
The PKK announced a ceasefire last October, but
Turkish authorities rejected it. Violence related to
the conflict has since reduced, however.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984
when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by
Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
AFP
** 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 as many as 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 some 20 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom 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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