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Turkey: Kurdish PKK rebels group denies carrying
out Ankara attack
23.5.2007 |
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Kurdish rebels deny role in deadly Turkey bombing
May
23, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey ,-- Turkey's separatist
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) denied on Wednesday
carrying out a bomb attack which killed six people
in Ankara, after Turkish officials said the attack
bore the hallmarks of the group.
"We announce that we... have no connection twith
this attack and that we do not approve of such
methods," said a statement by the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK), which has been fighting for self-rule
in Turkey's southeast since 1984 when the PKK took
up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
The statement was published on the Internet site of
the Firat news agency.
Ankara's governor said earlier on Wednesday
authorities had identified the remains of a suicide
bomber who carried out the attack in Turkey's
capital on Tuesday, and the type of explosives used
pointed to Kurdish separatists.
"It is understood the incident was caused by the
explosion of a plastic (explosives) bomb on this
person's body and the incident's style matches the
methods of the separatist organization," Kemal Onal
said after an emergency meeting called after the
attack, the worst in the capital in at least a
decade.
A would-be suicide bomber was detained in the
southern city Adana while trying to escape in a car,
Governor Ilhan Atis told Anatolian news agency. The
woman had 11.3 kg (25 lb) of explosive, two hand
bombs and a dozen detonators.
Onal said 91 people were wounded in the attack,
which came amid political tension in the EU-aspirant
state. Authorities had earlier said 102 were
wounded. Several Pakistanis were injured.
Turkish media said eight people had been detained in
connection with the blast, but police declined to
comment.
Leading newspapers Hurriyet and Radikal that the
blast took place shortly before senior military
commanders, including the head of the armed forces,
were due to pass the area.
Turkey's lira currency fell on Wednesday, hit by
worries over domestic turmoil. Turkey is a major
tourism destination.
TENSIONS RISE
The PKK, considered a terrorist group by the United
States, the European Union and Turkey, ended a
unilateral ceasefire on May 18 and security experts
had expected attacks to escalate.
Turkey has repeatedly urged Iraq and the United
States to crack down on an estimated 4,000 PKK
rebels who use northern Iraq as a springboard to
attack targets inside Turkey.
Last month, armed forces Chief of Staff Yasar
Buyukanit called for a military push into northern
Iraq to quash them.
"Our security forces will do whatever necessary ...
against terror, there should be no doubt on this,"
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters when
asked about the possible operations.
Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government has called a
national election ahead of schedule to resolve a
conflict with the secularist elite over a recent
presidential election.
Kurdish parties accuse his government of sidelining
their candidates. Kurdish separatists, leftist
militants and hardline Islamists have all launched
bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.
Reuters | 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 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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