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Turkish and Iranian artillery shell Iraqi Kurdistan
areas
8.6.2007 |
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June
8, 2007
ISTANBUL, Turkey, -- Turkish and Iranian
forces shelled Kurdish rebel positions across the
border in Kurdistan region (northern Iraq), Iraqi
Kurd officials reported Friday, amid fears that the
conflict could open a new front in Iraq.
Turkey has been building up its forces along the
border with Iraq, and its leaders are debating
whether to stage a major incursion to pursue
separatist rebels who cross over from bases in Iraq
to attack Turkish targets. Such an operation could
ignite a wider conflict involving Iraqi Kurds, and
disrupt Turkey's ties with its NATO ally, the United
States.
Iran has also clashed with Iranian Kurd fighters who
have bases in remote, mountainous areas of Kurdistan
(northern Iraq).
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, the party
of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, reported the
Turkish and Iranian shelling on its website. Turkish
military authorities at the General Staff in Ankara
were not immediately available for comment.
Iranian officials in Tehran could not immediately be
reached for comment late Friday. Iranian media
contained no reports on any shelling, and usually
wait several days to report such incidents.
The P.U.K. said artillery shells overnight hit some
areas in the Sidikan area in Erbil province, where
the borders of Turkey, Iran and Iraq converge, and
that nine villages were affected. It was unclear
whether there was any degree of coordination among
Turkish and Iranian gunners.
"Huge damage was inflicted on the area," the PU.K.
said, citing what it described as an unidentified
"source" in the area. "The source said that
residents have left their houses, fearing for their
lives."
Lt. Ahmed Karim of the Iraqi border guards force
told The Associated Press that seven Turkish shells
landed on a forest near Sakta village in the Batous
area, but no casualties were reported.
A senior official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party,
the party of the Kurdistan region president Massoud
Barzani, confirmed there had been Turkish shelling
of Iraqi Kurdistan territory, but declined to give
details.
"The situation is unclear and we do not have details
about the shelling," said the official, Sarbest
Yazkin.
Turkey's military command on Friday declared its
"unshakable determination" to defeat Kurdish rebels,
and a fourth soldier died of injuries from a bomb in
a new Turkish security zone north of the Iraqi
Kurdistan border.
The roadside bombing Thursday night, blamed on
Kurdish separatists, came the day after Turkish
security officials and an Iraqi Kurdish official
said Turkish soldiers had crossed into Iraq in
pursuit of rebels based there. Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul denied such a raid took place.
Turkish forces have sometimes conducted so-called
hot pursuits of Kurdish rebels just across the
border, but rarely announce such operations. Turkey
has restricted access to large swathes of border
territory where its force buildup is occurring. A
major incursion would have greater political
ramifications than a so-called hot pursuit, and
Turkish leaders say it would require parliamentary
approval.
Turkish leaders say the guerrillas cross into Turkey
to stage attacks in their recently escalated fight
to win autonomy for heavily Kurdish southeastern
Turkey.
VOI website reported on Friday that Turkish
artillery shelled areas inside Iraqi Kurdistan
region territories with no reports of casualties,
local residents and Kurdish military sources said on
Friday.
"Areas near the villages of Dasht Dakh, Barkh Siyara,
Kashan and Mula Khamtiry of Zakho district came,
late last night, under Turkish artillery shelling
and machine-gun fire for almost two hours, setting
villagers into a panic, but no casualties resulted,"
Mohammed Saleh, 52, from the nearby Darkar village
said
Luqman Keisti, 28-years old from Keista village near
the Turkish border, told VOI "areas near the
villages of Keista, Karah, Bitkar and Spindar came
under heavy bombardment last night from the Turkish
artillery."
Iraqi Kurdish military sources confirmed the Turkish
shelling but declined to give furthers details.
Meanwhile Abdul Rahman Mahmud, 55, owner of a bees
farm near the border village of Nazdor, said "three
Turkish helicopters landed at the Kumer military
site near the Iraqi-Turkish borders this morning."
Mahmud expressed his belief that the copters were on
a surveillance mission.
The Kurdistan region (northern Iraqi) borders have
been a scene of tension and repeated Turkish
artillery shelling. Turkey says its forces are
hunting for the banned Turkish Kurdish Workers'
party PKK fighters who hide in the border areas
inside Iraq's Kurdistan.
PKK took up arms for self-rule in the country's
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
AP | 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.
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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