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Eight dead in Turkish army-Kurdish PKK rebels
clashes
2.8.2007 |
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August 2, 2007
Tuncel, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkish troops killed five Kurdish rebels
in the southeast in a clash that also left three
soldiers dead, news agencies reported.
The fighting erupted in the province of Tunceli late
Wednesday as troops tracked down rebels who
allegedly wounded a Turkish soldier late Tuesday,
Dogan news agency reported.
The troops called for their surrender, but were met
with gunfire, leading to the clash that claimed
eight lives, Dogan said.
State-run media also reported the fighting, and
confirmed the number of dead.
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the
Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK took up arms for
self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast
of Turkey.
Turkey is considering a cross-border military
operation to root out the PKK bases in neighboring
Iraqi Kurdistan, but the United States is opposed to
such an incursion, fearing it might drag the
relatively calm Kurdistan or (northern part of Iraq)
into chaos.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said earlier
this week that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
would visit his Turkish colleague in the coming
weeks to discuss ways to stop activities of Kurdish
guerrillas hiding in Iraq's north.
The United States and European Union call PKK a
terrorist organization.
AP
** Iraq's
Kurdistan 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). 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 .
** 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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