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Iran troop build-up near Iraqi Kurdistan
border, Iran shells Kurdistan region border
19.8.2007
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Kurdish sources are reporting a build-up of
thousands of Iranian troops along the Northern
border with Iraqi Kurdistan region
August
19, 2007
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region (Iraq), --
Iran is building up its troops near the Iraqi
Kurdistan region border and is shelling the remote
northeast borders. According to the Bahrain-based
Gulf Daily news, Kurdish sources are reporting a
build-up of thousands of Iranian troops along the
Northern border with autonomous region of Kurdistan
(Iraq).
The Iranian military has shelled Kurdish areas in
Iraq's remote northeast intermittently over the past
three days, wounding two women and forcing the
evacuation of 200 families, Iraqi officials said on
Saturday.
Hussein Ahmed, the mayor of Qal'at Dizah town close
to the Iranian border, said several thousand Iranian
soldiers could also be seen near the border. There
was no immediate comment from Tehran or Baghdad on
the reports.
Jabar Yaour, undersecretary at the Ministry for
Peshmerga Affairs in Iraq's largely autonomous
Kurdistan region, said the shelling had taken place
across a range of about 50 km (30 miles).
"Damage has occurred in Kurdish villages on the
Iraqi side and resulted in the evacuation of more
than 200 families from these villages," Yaour said.
Cross-border fighting occasionally occurs as Iraq's
neighbours combat Kurdish separatist rebels
operating from bases in Iraq's remote and
mountainous north and northeast.
Yaour said there was no presence of Kurdish rebels
in the area of the latest shelling.
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. Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic
Kurds.
On Saturday, the Iranian news agency Mehr said an
Iranian army helicopter which
crashed near the border with
Kurdistan region (northern Iraq) had been engaged in
a military operation against the Party of Free Life
of Kurdistan (PJAK), an offshoot of the PKK.
PEJAK took up arms for self-rule in the country's
mainly Kurdistan province Northwestern of Iran.
PEJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan) , took up
arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdistan
province northwestern of Iran. Half the members of
PEJAK are women.
Iranian media said six military personnel were
killed in the crash, which happened during
manoeuvres involving Iran's elite Revolutionary
Guards on Friday.
Kurdistani politician says, Turkey and Iran is using
a Kurdish separatist PKK, and PJAK 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).
Reuters | Agencies
**
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.
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.
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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