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Kurdish PKK rebel leader warns Turkey against Iraqi
Kurdistan incursion
17.7.2007 |
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Kurdish rebel leader to Turkey: avoid "strategic
mistake". A strike into Kurdistan "northern Iraq"
would unite Kurds on either side of the border
against Turkey
July
17, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region (Iraq), --
With Turkey massing troops on its border with Iraqi
Kurdistan region, a key leader of Kurdish PKK
separatists said a cross-border attack would be a
"strategic mistake" and called for talks to end more
than two decades of fighting.
Abdul Rahman Chaderchi, a senior official of the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), said a strike into
Kurdistan "northern Iraq" would unite Kurds on
either side of the border against Turkey and bring
Turkish troops face-to-face with U.S. forces
stationed in Kurdistan region (northern Iraq).
Rumours of a possible Turkish incursion into
neighbouring, autonomous Kurdistan region (northern
Iraq) have rattled financial markets and have drawn
warnings from the United States, Ankara's NATO ally,
to stay out.
"This would be a strategic mistake with profound
implications for the Middle East," Chaderchi told
Reuters by telephone from a mountain base in
Kurdistan (northern Iraq) on Monday.
"An attack (into northern Iraq) would unite all the
Kurds in the Middle East and elsewhere."
Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria all have sizeable
Kurdish minorities.
"Turkey has failed in the past to crush the PKK. We
have made an offer of a ceasefire and we stand by
that. But the Turkish government is not interested
in peace," Chaderchi said.
Turkey's armed forces have urged its government to
allow an incursion to crush up to 4,000 PKK
militants who use the
region as a base to attack security and civilian
targets inside Turkey.
The PKK, outlawed in Turkey and considered a
terrorist organisation by the United States and the
European Union, took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Clashes have continued despite a PKK unilateral
ceasefire first declared in September 2006 and
renewed several times since. Last week, a Turkish
human rights organisation said 225 people had been
killed in fighting between the PKK and Turkish
security forces in the first half of this year
alone. PKK announced earlier we have the right to
self-defence in case Turkish attacked us.
Chaderchi described Turkey's military build-up along
the border with Kurdistan (Iraq) as unprecedented in
the number of men and heavy weapons, including
tanks, artillery and aircraft.
Last week, security sources in the Turkish city of
Diyarbakir, just across the border, told Reuters the
Turkish army had boosted troop levels in the area to
more than 200,000. Iraq's government, which has
urged dialogue to resolve the growing tension, has
put the number at 140,000.
The Turkish troop movements come against the
backdrop of a bitterly contested campaign for
parliamentary elections on Sunday which has
triggered an upsurge in nationalism and could
strengthen those who demand stronger action against
the PKK.
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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