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Turk troops escaped east Turkey suicide attack
24.6.2007 |
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June
24, 2007
TUNCELI, , Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkish paramilitary police escaped
unscathed from a suicide attack by Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas late on Saturday,
the provincial governor said on Sunday.
PKK militants attacked a paramilitary police station
in the eastern Turkish province of Tunceli using a
truck filled with oil, and clashes had followed on
Saturday night, army sources said.
But on Sunday Tunceli Governor Mustafa Yaman said
the gendarme police, who work alongside the army and
are responsible for security in rural areas, had
anticipated the attack and fled to avoid being hurt,
and no one was killed.
Two militants had stolen a truck carrying oil and
killed themselves when they blew it up, the governor
said.
A recent escalation in violence in mainly Kurdish
east and southeastern Turkey, where the PKK has been
fighting for a homeland since 1984, has prompted the
armed forces to call for an operation into Kurdistan
region (northern Iraq) to deal with militants based
there.
The government, which faces elections next month,
has said it agrees with the army and an operation
could be launched if necessary, but has not
reconvened parliament to approve such a move.
PKK took up arms for self-rule in the country's
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
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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