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Eight killed in fresh violence in Turkey
1.6.2007 |
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June 1, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Two Kurdish rebels were killed
on Friday in an ongoing operation against the
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party in the east of
the country, local security sources said.
Fighting erupted early in the day between Kurdistan
Workers' Party rebels and soldiers on a security
sweep in Tunceli province, a region that has
recently seen heavy fighting, the sources said.
The Turkish army killed four
separatist Kurdish rebels on Thursday while four
civilians died and four others were wounded in an
attack blamed on the militants, officials said.
Three militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
were killed near the village of Cicekli in the
eastern province of Tunceli, a region that has seen
heavy fighting between government forces and rebels,
the security forces said.
The other rebel was killed in fighting near the town
of Cukurca in Hakkari province, which borders Iran
and Iraq, the governor's office there said.
Meanwhile, four villagers were killed and four
others were wounded in the eastern Bingol province
when gunmen, believed to be PKK rebels, shot at them
while they were cutting down trees, security forces
said.
The earlier toll stood at three killed and four
wounded.
One of the injured died in hospital while another
wounded villager was brought in, security forces
said.
Clashes between PKK rebels and security forces
intensified after the army last month launched
large-scale operations against the outlawed group in
the east and southeast of the country.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since the
PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, took up
arms in 1984 for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish
east and southeast of the country.
Turkey says thousands of PKK rebels have found
shelter in neighbouring northern Iraq where, Ankara
says, they are able to obtain weapons and explosives
for attacks on Turkish targets across the border.
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.
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
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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