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US official arrives in Turkey amid threats to use
force against Kurds
21.4.2007 |
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April
21, 2007
ANKARA, -- US State Department's senior Iraq
coordinator David Satterfield arrived on Friday in
the Turkish capital on a mission that coincided with
mounting US concern at Ankara's possible
implementation of
threats to launch a military incursion into
Kurdistan region (northern Iraq).
The Turkish news agency, Anatolia, reported that
Satterfield's mission followed recent statements by
the Turkish Army chief of staff warning that the
Turkish troops would carry out an incursion into
Kurdistan (northern Iraq) to dislodge Kurdish
separatists, responsible for recurring hit-and-run
attacks.
The US official is expected to hold talks with
senior officials on the Kurdish issue and a
prospected conference for Iraq, due in Egypt next
month.
US officials said Washington asked Ankara to refrain
from resorting to military action against the Kurds
in northern Iraq and cooperate with the Baghdad
government to settle this problem.
Turkish media reported that the national army might
launch the attack next month against bases of the
Kurdish Workers Party (the PKK) in Kurdistan
(northern Iraq). The Kurdish group advocates
establishing an independent Kurdish entity in
southeastern Turkey.
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.
kuna net kw
** 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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