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Tensions and fear pervade Iraqi Kurdistan-Turkish
border
26.6.2007 |
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June
26, 2007
DASHT TAKH, Kurdistan region (Iraq)- Farouq
Youhana fled car bombs and snipers in Baghdad to
start a new life in a village in northern Iraq's
autonomous region of Kurdistan.
Little did he know that within days he would hear
Turkish shells being fired at separatist Kurdish
rebels based just inside the Iraqi border.
"I came looking for security, but found myself
living with this shelling. They do not hesitate to
shoot without reason, to scare us," Youhana, 48,
said in the small village of Dasht Takh.
Tensions have soared along the mountainous border
region in recent weeks following an upsurge in
attacks across Turkey that Ankara has blamed on the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Financial markets were rattled earlier this month by
reports of a big military incursion into northern
Iraq, which Turkey denied. Turkey's military is
known to sometimes shell PKK targets inside Iraq, as
well as stage small raids across the border.
Youhana and several other villagers said the
shelling was making it too dangerous to work in the
picturesque mountain region, where locals grow
chickpeas, grapes and walnuts.
Tourists from larger towns in Kurdistan who visit to
enjoy the mountains and river views were also
staying away, they said.
One PKK fighter said the rebels were on high alert
for any invasion, something analysts regard as
unlikely given the strain it would put on Turkey's
ties with Washington.
"We carry our weapons to defend ourselves ...
(Turkey) prefers the military choice but we tell
them that this will not solve the problem," Sherfan
Azadi, clutching a rifle, told Reuters on the
outskirts of one village.
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The 70 families of Kashan village have been forced
to move to further back from the Turkish border in
Kurdistan |
Turkey's government is under pressure from the
public and army to tackle some 4,000 rebels believed
to be in Kurdistan mountains in (northern Iraq) and
who seek to establish a Kurdish state in southeast
Turkey. Tens of thousands of Turkish troops have
been sent to the border.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan last week called on
the United States and Iraq to deal with the PKK in
northern Iraq, saying Ankara would take military
action if necessary.
Washington, while classing the PKK as a terrorist
group, fears any major operation by its NATO ally in
northern Iraq could anger Iraqi Kurdish allies and
stoke wider conflict in a relatively peaceful region
of the war-torn country.
POVERTY
Youhana grew up in Baghdad and owned a shop selling
plumbing supplies. Dismayed by the unrelenting
violence, he moved two months ago to Dasht Takh,
where his father was born.
"I thought I could start a small project with my
savings. But I found it impossible," he said.
While there have been no reports of anyone getting
killed by the sporadic shelling, residents said they
lived in fear.
Residents said they had nothing against the PKK,
saying they only occasionally saw them. Most PKK
fighters are believed to live in camps across the
mountains, they said.
Some residents said it was unsafe to tend orchards
around the nearby village of Sinat.
"We live in poverty because we cannot reach the
orchards we own. I tried to go but the Turks fired
at me," said Salim Micheal, 38, showing wounds to
his hand that he said was caused by shrapnel from a
Turkish shell.
Baghdad has sent a letter of protest to Ankara about
what it said was intensive Turkish shelling of areas
inside Iraq.
Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said this month
that Turkey's concerns about the PKK were
legitimate, but that his government had long shown
its willingness to work with Ankara on ways to stop
the rebels harming Turkish interests.
Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than
30,000 people since it launched an armed campaign
for autonomy in maily Kurdish southeast Turkey in
1984.
To the south of the border, in the larger village of
Sharnesh, Aqil Sabri owns a shop selling food and
drinks. Tourists had stopped coming to enjoy the
nearby river, he said.
"Spring and summer are the seasons of tourism, but
this season will not be like previous years," he
said.
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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