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Turkey opens investigation into Iraqi Kurdistan
president Massoud Barzani
18.6.2007 |
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June
18, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkish state prosecutors opened an
investigation on Monday into Massoud Barzani,
president of the autonomous Kurdistan region of
northern Iraq, whom Ankara suspects of supporting
Turkish Kurdish rebels.
The probe coincides with a buildup of Turkish troops
and tanks in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey amid
speculation that they may stage a major incursion
into northern Iraq to hit bases of the banned
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) located there.
A Turkish nationalist organisation asked prosecutors
in Diyarbakir, the largest city of Turkey's
southeast, to open the probe into the accusations
over the PKK, and called for the seizure of any
assets, including property and bank accounts, that
Barzani may own in Turkey.
Barzani once had good ties with Ankara, but these
have deteriorated sharply in recent months after he
used harsh language to criticise Turkey's approach
to Iraq's Kurds and said there could be no question
of his forces tackling the PKK.
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Massoud Barzani, the President of the autonomous Regional
Government of Kurdistan 'Iraq' |
Ankara is anxious to prevent the emergence of an
Iraqi Kurdish state in northern Iraq, fearing this
could fan separatism among its own large Kurdish
population in southeast Turkey and also destabilise
the broader region.
Turkey, which faces elections next month, says it
has the right under international law to send troops
into Iraq to crush the PKK if U.S. and Iraqi forces
fail to act.
Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than
37,000 people since the group launched its armed
campaign for an ethnic homeland in mainly Kurdish
southeast Turkey in 1984.
Turkish media said on Monday Iraqi Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki would visit Ankara this month at
Erdogan's request to discuss the security situation
in northern Iraq.
Reuters
** 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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