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Three Kurdish PKK rebels, Turkish soldier killed in
Turkey clashes
19.6.2007 |
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June
19, 2007
TUNCELI, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Three Kurdish rebels and a Turkish
soldier were killed in clashes in eastern Turkey,
officials said Tuesday.
The three rebels from the separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) were shot dead in an operation
in Erzincan province that was launched late Monday
after suspected members of the group opened fire on
a military patrol vehicle, wounding four soldiers,
Erzincan governor Ali Gungor said.
Two other militants were captured, Gungor told the
Anatolia news agency.
In Gumushane province to the north, a soldier was
killed and another wounded when rebels opened fire
on a patrol in a rural area, governor Enver
Salihoglu told the agency.
Gumushane is not a region where the PKK is usually
active, but officials said several attacks in the
province in recent years show the group is seeking a
foothold there.
The army launched a large-scale crackdown against
the group in the east and southeast of the country
and amassed troops on the border with Iraq, where
the militants take refuge.
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
PKK, classified as a terror organisation by Turkey,
the United States and the European Union
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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