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Turkish FM: We don't seek permission from anyone to
invade Iraqi Kurdistan
9.7.2007 |
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GUL:
We don't seek permission from anyone, Turkey makes
decisions and executes them on its own
July
9, 2007
Ankara, Turkey, -- US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice phoned her Turkish
counterpart Abdullah Gül to prevent a possible
Turkish military intervention into Kurdistan region
(northern Iraq) to hit the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) but received no firm assurance,
the Washington Post reported yesterday.
"We don't seek permission from anyone, Turkey makes
decisions and executes them on its own," Gül told
reporters yesterday of his phone conversation with
Rice on Friday. "We just remind the US that
'terrorist' organizations in northern Iraq must be
fought. The rest is up to us. This is what we told
her."
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Turkey Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül |
The Washington Post article said a consensus among
diplomats and observers in Washington a month ago
held that a Turkish intervention is unlikely is now
changing as disillusionment with US promises of
dealing with the PKK in Iraq and electoral
desperation take hold in Ankara.
"A Turkish invasion that turns Kurdistan's relative
calm into chaos and bloodshed would be the nail in
the coffin for Bush's legacy in Iraq and for US
public support for the American presence there.
Making sure this does not happen should be Priority
One for Bush in the weeks ahead," it stated.
The Turkish military has deployed troops along the
border with Kurdistan autonomous region (Iraq) and
said repeatedly that an incursion into northern Iraq
would be useful in tackling the threat from PKK
members based there.
Turkish forces shelled two villages in Kurdistan
border (northern Iraq) late on Friday, Reuters
reported on Saturday, but there were no casualties.
A member of the Iraqi border force said around 25
shells were fired at Merta Shesh and Gale Psagha,
villages near the town of Zakho, on Friday evening.
A local official also said dozens of shells had been
fired at the area.
todayszaman com
** 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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