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Two Turkish soldiers killed in Kurdish Southeastern
Turkey
18.7.2007 |
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July
18, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Two Turkish soldiers were killed
and six others injured when their vehicle hit a
landmine planted by separatist Kurdish rebels in
southeastern Turkey, local officials said.
The incident occurred on a road near the town of
Cukurca, at the border with Iraq, as the soldiers
were returning from a patrol mission.
Landmines have become a hallmark of the separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which notably stepped
up attacks this year.
The army has launched a large-scale crackdown
against the PKK in the southeast and amassed troops
on the border with Kurdistan (northern Iraq), where
the rebels believed take refuge.
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.
The United States and the European Union, like
Turkey, class the PKK as a "terrorist organisation"
AFP
** 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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