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Clash in southeast Turkey leaves 10 Kurdish rebels,
2 soldiers dead
26.8.2007 |
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August
26, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey, -- A clash between troops and
Kurdish PKK rebels near Turkey's southeast border
with Iraq left 10 rebels and two soldiers dead, the
military said Saturday.
The fighting erupted Friday near Uludere, a town in
Sirnak province, when the troops called for the
rebels to surrender, but were met with gunfire, the
military said in a statement on its Web site.
Two women were said to be among the Kurds killed,
who were identified as belonging to the armed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered a
terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and
the United States.
It left the highest number of casualties in a single
clash in recent months.
The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK,
have been fighting for autonomy in manly Kurdish
southeast Turkey since 1984.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds.
Kurdish rebels have killed about 80 soldiers since
January, most in roadside bomb attacks on military
vehicles.
Turkey has threatened to invade northern Iraq to
eradicate rebel bases there if U.S. or Iraqi forces
do not crack down on the PKK.
During a visit by Iraq's prime minister to Ankara
last week, Turkey and Iraq agreed to try to root out
the rebels. But Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
said the Iraqi parliament would have the final say
on efforts to halt the guerrillas' cross-border
attacks into Turkey.
The military statement said troops were pressing
ahead with anti-rebel offensives in Sirnak, but gave
no further detail.
AP | AFP
**
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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