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Turkey says Iraq accepts cooperation against
Kurdish PKK rebels
25.5.2007 |
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May
25, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey, -- Iraq said it was ready to
cooperate with Ankara against the separatist
Kurdistan Workers Party guerrillas who use Kurdistan
mountains (northern Iraq) as a base, Turkey's
foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Last month Turkey gave a diplomatic note asking
Baghdad to help force the PKK out of Kurdistan
(northern Iraq).
"Iraq replied to our note with a note on May 17. In
this counter note, the Iraqi government expresses
its intention to cooperate over PKK terrorism," the
Turkish foreign ministry statement said.
Turkish army chief Yasar Buyukanit last month called
for a military operation into Iraq to quash PKK
guerrillas.
Following Tuesday's bomb attack in Ankara which
killed six people, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
said the Turkish security forces would do whatever
was necessary to safeguard the country.
A mine explosion on Thursday killed six Turkish
soldiers in southeastern Turkey, the deadliest
single attack on Turkish forces in the last year.
The United States and Iraqi Kurdish leaders oppose
Turkish troops going into Kurdistan region (northern
Iraq) and a Kurdish Iraqi official recently warned
that talk of such a move was a "dangerous
escalation."
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and PKK guerrillas
have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up
arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
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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