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Turkey says determined to combat Kurd rebels, slams
Cyprus
21.6.2007 |
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June
21, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey is determined to combat
separatist Kurdish rebels operating from bases in
neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan, the country's top
security body said Wednesday.
Turkey "will continue to take any measures the
struggle against terrorism requires, whatever the
circumstances may be," the National Security Council
(MGK) said in a statement carried by Anatolia news
agency after a regular meeting.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a
terrorist group by Ankara, EU and USA, has stepped
up attacks this year in its 23-year armed campaign
for Kurdish self-rule in the mainly Kurdish region
of southeast Turkey.
The army has called for an incursion into adjoining
northern Iraq, where PKK militants take refuge, and
also, according to Ankara, obtain large amounts of
explosives for attacks across the border in Turkey.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara
would focus on fighting the rebels inside Turkey and
seek dialogue with Baghdad to resolve the issue.
He sent a letter to his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki
last week, proposing talks by the end of June.
The MGK, an advisory body which brings together the
president, the prime minister, senior ministers and
military commanders, said it also reviewed the
Cyprus conflict.
It charged that the internationally recognised Greek
Cypriot government "continues to be an element of
instability in the region" and said Turkey would
"maintain efforts to protect its rights and
interests in the Eastern Mediterranean."
The council discussed steps for easing the
international isolation of the Turkish Cypriot
statelet in the north of the island, which only
Ankara recognises, adding that Turkey was committed
to reunifying Cyprus under UN sponsorship.
The Cyprus conflict remains a major stumbling block
for Turkey's struggling bid to join the European
Union.
Peace talks between the two Cypriot communities have
stalled since April 2004 when the Greek Cypriots
voted down a UN-drafted reunification plan even
though the Turkish Cypriots gave it overwhelming
support.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey
seized the north following an Athens-engineered coup
in Nicosia aimed at uniting the island with Greece.
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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