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Turkey says dialogue possible if Iraqi Kurds curb
PKK rebels
6.6.2007 |
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June
6, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey said on Wednesday it was
ready for dialogue with Kurdish leaders in
neighbouring Kurdistan region (northern Iraq) if
they took measures against Turkish Kurd rebels holed
up in the autonomous enclave.
"Naturally, we need to see positive signals in order
to take steps for dialogue, and by positive signals,
we mean serious steps against the terrorist
Kurdistan Workers' Party" (PKK), foreign ministry
spokesman Levent Bilman was quoted by the Anatolia
news agency as saying.
"Otherwise, there is no point in holding a dialogue
just for the sake of it," he added.
The PKK, branded as a terrorist group by Ankara, EU
and Unites States, has been fighting for self-rule
in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984 in a
conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
Turkey charges that thousands of PKK rebels have
found refuge in northern Iraq where they are able to
obtain weapons and explosives for attacks across the
border in Turkey.
Ankara accuses Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and even
supporting the rebels.
Turkey has long been pressing the United States and
Iraq to stamp out the PKK presence in the region and
has even threatened to carry out a cross-border
operation if they fail to do so.
Both Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the
president of the country's autonomous Kurdistan
region, Massoud Barzani, rejected Ankara's threats
and instead called for diplomacy to resolve the
problems.
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.
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.
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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