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PKK commander warns Turkey his group might abandon
cease fire
17.4.2007 |
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April
17, 2007
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region (Iraq),-- A
Kurdish rebel commander warned Turkey Monday that if
it does not negotiate with the Kurdistan Workers
Party, or PKK, the group will stop abiding by a
cease fire it declared unilaterally and resume
cross-border attacks.
Haval Jangawer, a PKK commander speaking by
telephone from Qandil Mountains on the border with
Turkey, said Iraq's northern neighbor has massed
about 60 tanks, artillery pieces and thousands of
soldiers near the border with Iraq.
His comments came amid fighting between Turkish
troops and PKK fighters, as well as increasing
tensions between Turkey and Iraq's Kurds who
recently warned their northern neighbor not to
interfere in Iraq's affairs or face retaliation from
the PKK.
Last week, Turkish chief of the armed forces Gen.
Yasar Buyukanit said "an operation into Iraq is
necessary." He said the military was conducting
several "large scale" offensives against separatist
Kurdish rebels in the predominantly Kurdish
southeastern region.
The announcement comes as Turkey has been
intensifying pressure on Iraq and the United States
to crack down on the rebels who launch raids from
bases in northern Iraq. Turkish troops were not
expected to cross the border, although they did on
several occasions before the 2003 U.S. invasion of
Iraq.
Jangawer said Turkey "will either have to accept our
unilateral cease-fire and solve the Kurdish problem
through negotiations or we will start fighting
again." PKK fighters have held a cease-fire since
Oct.1, but the Turkey military has ignored it,
vowing to continue fighting until all rebels are
killed or surrender.
Nearly 40,000 people have died in fighting since
autonomy-seeking rebels of the PKK took up arms
against the Turkish state in 1984.
In Turkey, local officials said Monday that Turkish
troops killed 12 armed Kurdish guerrillas in a clash
in southeast Turkey. One Turkish soldier was also
killed.
The clash occurred in the predominantly Kurdish
province of Tunceli when a group of rebels opened
fire on the soldiers, ignoring calls for them to
surrender, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
Twelve guerrillas were killed in the clash that
began on Sunday night, local authorities said.
The deaths bring to 29 the number of guerrillas
killed in the past 10 days in clashes in Turkey's
southeast. Eleven soldiers have also been killed in
fighting in the same period
AP
** 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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