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PKK Kurdish rebels in Turkey offer ceasefire
12.6.2007 |
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June
12, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey's main Kurdish rebel outfit
offered a renewed ceasefire to the government
Tuesday if it agreed to end army operations against
the group, a Kurdish news agency reported.
The rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) blamed the
military for an increase in violence in the
southeast of the country in recent weeks, according
to a statement carried by Firat, a well-known
mouthpiece for the group.
"There has been a marked increase in (army)
operations despite the fact that the unilateral
ceasefire that our movement has been keeping since
October 1 has not been formally abolished," the
statement said.
Rebel attacks were the result of "self-defence and
the use of our right of retaliation to losses," the
PKK said, adding, "We openly declare that if the
operations cease, the tensions will also cease."
The statement came as Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan indicated he would resist calls from
the influential military for an incursion into
neighbouring northern Iraq to pursue Turkish Kurd
rebels taking refuge there.
Military officials have earlier said that most PKK
members -- between 3,500 and 3,800 -- are based in
the border mountains of Kurdistan (northern Iraq),
with up to 2,000 others in Turkey.
Facing general elections on July 22, the government
has resisted calls for a cross-border operation,
which is strongly opposed by both Iraq and the
United States, wary over fresh turmoil in the
already conflict-ravaged country.
"If the government wants to decrease the tensions
and holds the general elections in a secure climate,
the only way for it is to stop the military's
attacks... Our forces will be careful and
responsible," the rebels said in Tuesday's
statement.
Violence in the southeast has claimed the lives of
56 members of the security forces and 74 PKK
militants this year, according to army figures.
Seven civilians were killed in May when a suicide
bomber, believed to be a Kurdish militant, blew
himself up at a busy shopping centre in Ankara.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by
Ankara and much of the international community,
called a unilateral ceasefire on October 1, saying
it hoped this would pave the way for a dialogue to
resolve the conflict.
The truce, like the previous ones called by the PKK,
was quickly rejected by Turkey.
The PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in the
southeast in 1984. The conflict has claimed more
than 37,000 lives.
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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