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Turkey formally asks US not to violate its airspace
again
29.5.2007 |
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May
29, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey asked the United States
formally on Tuesday to avoid another violation of
its airspace after an incident that exposed tensions
between the NATO allies.
Last week,
two U.S. F-16 warplanes
briefly infringed Turkish airspace
near the Iraqi border. U.S. diplomats say the
incident was an "accident". Turkish media say it was
intended to send a message to Ankara not to send its
troops into Kurdistan region (northern Iraq).
"After we received detailed technical information
from the General Staff on the incident, the
necessary diplomatic initiative was made today in
the presence of (a representative of) the U.S.
embassy," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official told Reuters:
"In the note given (to the embassy representative)
it was requested that this kind of incident not be
repeated."
The incident has coincided with increased media
speculation in Turkey, which faces a national
election in July, of a possible Turkish military
incursion into northern Iraq to crush Turkish
Kurdish rebels hiding there.
On May 24 a military source from Iraq's Kurdistan region said , two
Turkish warplanes
violated Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous
region airspace near the borders with Turkey.
"Two Turkish warplanes violated today the Kurdistan
region airspace for a distance of ten kilometers
inside the Iraqi territories," the source, who asked
not to be named.
The Turkish warplanes flew over Kurdish villages
west of Zakho in Kurdistan (northern Iraq), the
source added.
The rebels use the mountains of Kurdistan region
(northern Iraq) as a springboard to attack military
and security targets inside Turkey. Ankara has long
urged U.S. and Iraqi forces to crack down on the
rebels.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Friday there
were no preparations in parliament to give approval
to send troops into Iraq. In its statement on
Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said it was working
closely with the General Staff on the issue.
Turkish newspapers have suggested the two
institutions have not been coordinating their
actions. The General Staff recently helped prevent
Gul, a former Islamist, being elected president in
an election in parliament that has now been
postponed.
Reuters | VOI
** 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)
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