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Turkey seeks US explanation over Kurdish PKK rebels
weapons
14.7.2007 |
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July
14, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey has formally demanded an
explanation from the United States about how US
weapons have ended up in the hands of Turkish Kurd
rebels based in neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan,
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying
Saturday.
Ankara began probing the issue this month after a
militant of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who
surrendered to the Turkish authorities said he once
saw two US armoured vehicles deliver weapons to a
PKK camp in Iraq's Kurdistan Qandil mountains, on
the border with Iran.
The Turkish army "also have suspicions, they have
certain documents," Gul said in remarks published in
the Radikal newspaper.
"We called the US ambassador to the foreign
ministry. My undersecretary showed him the
documents... He said this could not be possible, but
said he would ask Washington to look into the
issue," Gul said.
The minister said he also raised the issue in a
telephone conversation with US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice last week.
Ankara says its patience is running out over the
safe haven that PKK rebels enjoy in Kurdish-run
northern Iraq, despite the fact that the United
States, a NATO ally, also lists the group as a
terrorist organisation.
Turkey has accused Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and
even aiding the rebels, who, it says, obtain weapons
and explosives in the region for attacks across the
border.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is under
pressure to order a military operation into northern
Iraq after the PKK notably stepped up attacks inside
Turkey this year. The army has amassed troops at the
Iraqi border.
Turkey's envoy to the United States said Wednesday
the forces of Massoud Barzani, president of the
autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq,
provided the PKK not only with safe haven "but also
logistical support -- food and other means, weapons,
ammunitions, explosives."
"We know the United States is supplying arms to the
northern Iraqi administration, and it is just
possible that they are ending up in the hands of the
terrorist organisations," Ambassador Nabi Sensoy
said in Washington.
The United States has warned Turkey against a
cross-border operation, wary that such a move may
destabilise a relatively peaceful region in
conflict-torn Iraq and fuel tensions between Ankara
and the Iraqi Kurds, a staunch US ally.
Washington says it is working to curb the PKK
through non-military means such as cutting off its
financial resources.
The PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in mainly
Kurdish southeast Turkey in 1984. The conflict has
claimed more than 37,000 lives.
AFP
** 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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