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Turkish army launch anti-Kurdish rebel operation in
SE Turkey
8.5.2007 |
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May 8, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkish troops backed by
helicopters have launched an operation against
Kurdish
separatist rebels, security sources said on Monday,
after two soldiers and five rebels were killed over
the weekend.
They said thousands of soldiers were taking part in
the operation involving Cobra and Sikorsky
helicopters against rebels from the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the valleys of
mountainous Sirnak province, near the Iraqi border.
Fighting escalates in the spring as the snow melts
and rebels cross the border from mountain bases in
Kurdish-ruled northern Iraq, where Ankara continues
to urge the United States to crack down on
militants.
The sources said security had been stepped up along
the border with Iraq, which was being monitored by
F-16 warplanes during the day and thermal cameras at
night.
Two Turkish soldiers and two Kurdistan Workers'
Party guerrillas were killed late on Saturday in
southeast Turkey, officials said on Sunday.
Fighting tends to escalate in the spring as the snow
melts and guerrillas cross the border from their
hide-outs in Kurdish-ruled northern Iraq, where
Anakara continues to urge the United States to crack
down on militants.
The governor of the province of Sirnak, which
borders Iraq, said in a statement two soldiers had
been killed in clashes in the province, while a
security official said two militants had been killed
in Hatay, which borders Syria.
The security official said on Sunday fighting was
most intense in the border areas.
"Particularly in Hakkari and Sirnak clashes have
increased in recent days .... groups trying to cross
into Turkey from northern Iraq are being constantly
followed," he said.
More than 30,000 people have died in the conflict
between Turkey and the PKK since it launched its
insurgency for a homeland in the mainly Kurdish
southeast in 1984.
Reuters
** 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, 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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