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Turkey boosts troops to 200,000 at Iraqi Kurdistan
border
14.7.2007 |
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July
14, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkey's army has boosted troop levels in
the restive southeast to more than 200,000,
most of them stationed along the border with Iraq,
security sources told Reuters on Friday.
Those sources, who declined to be named, said the
unusually large buildup, which includes tanks, heavy
artillery and aircraft, was part of a security
crackdown on Kurdish PKK rebels believed to be
hiding in southeast Turkey and Kurdistan region
(northern Iraq).
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed the
estimate of 200,000 troops, saying it was too high.
"I have not seen anything that would indicate there
are numbers of Turkey's soldiers along the border of
that size," Gates told reporters in Washington.
The Pentagon has disputed reports of increased
Turkish troop levels for days. The top U.S. general,
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace, said
Turkey has the capability to fight the rebels inside
Iraq without boosting troop levels.
"The truth of the matter is that the Turkish armed
forces on their side of the border have always had
sufficient forces to be able to take actions without
having to be reinforced," Pace said.
NATO-member Turkey has refused to rule out a
possible cross-border operation to crush up to 4,000
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels believed to be
based in mountains in northern Iraq, despite
opposition from Washington and Baghdad.
The military General Staff in Ankara was not
immediately available for comment on troop numbers.
It usually does not release such figures.
Tensions along the border have soared in recent
months following an upsurge in attacks across Turkey
that Ankara blames on PKK militants. More than 200
Turkish soldiers and PKK rebels have been killed
since the start of the year, a Turkish human rights
association said on Friday.
Armed forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit has
repeatedly urged the government to allow an
incursion into Iraq to target PKK militants. Those
statements have drawn warnings from the head of the
autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq that
Kurds would fight back if attacked.
Washington, while naming the PKK a terrorist group,
fears any major operation by Turkey in Kurdistan
(northern Iraq) could anger Iraqi Kurdish allies and
stoke wider conflict in a relatively peaceful region
of the war-torn country.
But U.S. and Iraqi forces have been unable to clamp
down on the PKK because they are stretched fighting
insurgents elsewhere in Iraq. Both Washington and
Baghdad have called for diplomatic means to calm
tensions with Turkey.
PRESSURE MOUNTING
Sources close to Turkey's ruling AK Party say the
Turkish government has been reluctant to push for a
cross-border operation because it fears the move
could rattle the economy ahead of parliamentary
elections on July 22.
Ahmet Birsin, editor of Turkish Kurdish local
television channel Gun, said people in the region
were very worried. "We want peace not more
violence," he said.
But amid national public anger over the deaths,
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has hinted parliament
could be recalled to approve an operation.
Analysts say the tough talk by the armed forces and
the government is partly driven by domestic politics
amid rising nationalism in the country.
The armed forces usually boost troop levels in the
mainly Kurdish southeast region in the spring when
rebels cross the mountains into Turkey from Iraq to
carry out attacks.
But security forces said the current buildup was
larger than normal. One source said troop levels in
Sirnak province were as high as 50,000 compared with
10,000-20,000 normally.
An unusually high number of military convoys have
been seen making their way to the border. One
Reuters reporter said he saw heavy artillery and
tanks being transported on trains.
Security sources said a wide-ranging clampdown in
the region -- including security zones limiting
movement of civilians -- had put the PKK on the
defensive, limiting their movements and forcing them
to use remote-controlled bombs to attack soldiers
rather than risking close combat.
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Reuters
** Ankara is anxious to prevent the emergence of a
Kurdish state in Kurdistan region (northern Iraq),
fearing this could fan separatism among its own
large Kurdish population in southeast Turkey .
Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using a Kurdish
separatist PKK rebel group as an excuse to invade
Kurdistan region (Iraq) to prevent the establishment
of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish autonomous region
in (northern Iraq).
** 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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