|
Turkish troops kill five Kurdish rebels in
southeast Turkey
5.7.2007 |
|
|
|
July
5, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Two Kurdish rebels and a member of
a pro-government militia have been killed in fresh
violence in Turkey's restive southeast, security
officials said Thursday.
The rebels, members of the separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), were shot dead while planting
a landmine on a road in the eastern province of
Tunceli late Wednesday, the sources said.
In neighbouring Bingol, PKK militants killed a
village guard, or a member of a local
government-armed militia supporting the army in the
fight against the PKK, the sources said.
Reuters reported that Turkish soldiers killed five
Kurdish guerrillas, including two women, in clashes
in eastern Turkey, military sources said on
Thursday.
Two female rebels from the separatist Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) were killed by soldiers near a
village in mountainous Tunceli province on Wednesday
evening as they tried to plant a roadside bomb, the
sources said.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by
Ankara and much of the international community,
notably stepped up violence this year.
The army has 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.
The PKK took up arms for self-rule in Turkey's
mainly Kurdish east and southeast in 1984. The
conflict has claimed some 37,000 lives.
AFP | 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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 