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Turkey: The Kurdish card
24.5.2007
By Petros Papaconstantinou - opinion |
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May
24, 2007
Terrorist attack or act of provocation? The question
hangs over Turkey after the deadly suicide bombing
in Ankara late Tuesday. Both scenarios are
plausible.
Turkish authorities suspect Kurdish separatist
groups. The PKK ended its unilateral ceasefire on
May 18 and a spectacular strike had been widely
expected. Last summer, the Kurdistan Liberation
Hawks claimed responsibility for a series of bomb
attacks in Turkish resorts.
In addition, memories are still fresh of the
November 2005 bomb attack against a bookstore in
Semdinli that was initially blamed on PKK guerrillas
before allegations were made that the act was
committed by the Turkish army's intelligence arm.
Two Tukish soldiers were sentenced to prison terms
of 39 years but an appeals court recently overturne
the ruling.
At all events, the Kurdish problem appears to be the
army’s strongest card in its bid to prevent the
Islamic AKP from gaining re-election. Firstly,
because people tend to look for an iron hand to
counter the threat of terror and, secondly, because
Kurds are indeed seen as a major threat.
The sight of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
posing in front of a Kurdish flag next to Massoud
Barzani, president of the autonomous Kurdistan
region in (northern Iraq), did not go down well in
Turkey.
Particularly because Barzani has announced plans to
hold a referendum on the status of the oil-rich
Kirkuk region. Turkey’s security establishment sees
the Kurdish threat as a chance to prove its
nationalist credentials.
Retired General Edip Baser said recently that the
trilateral US-Turkish-Iraqi effort against the PKK
would be ineffective because of Washington’s
reluctance to help Ankara. Ironically, the
Americans, who had for decades supported the army as
a bulwark against the Soviet Union and Arab
nationalism, now risk seeing their former allies
setting alight the only Iraqi region under US
control.
ekathimerini com
Turkey: Kurdish PKK rebels group
denies carrying out Ankara attack 23.5.2007
** 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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