|
Iraq asks Kurd rebels to stop fighting
Turkey, Iran
9.9.2007
|
|
|
|
September 9, 2007
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region (Iraq), --
Iraq wants Kurdish rebels based in its northern
region of Kurdistan to stop using the area to launch
attacks against neighbouring Turkey and Iran, Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani said.
Talabani, on a visit to the Kurdish city of
Sulaimaniyah in Kurdistan on Friday, said his
comments did not mean Baghdad was threatening the
rebels, who are holed up along northern and
northeastern border areas.
"We ask them to ... put an end to armed struggle or
at least stop their operations for one or two years
against these countries to avoid foreign
interference in the Kurdistan territory," Talabani
said in a recording of his news conference seen
on Saturday.
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas took up
arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating
an ethnic Kurdish homeland in the mainly Kurdish
Eastern Turkey, home to up to 25 million Kurds. |
Iraqi President : Jalal Talabani, a Kurd |
Several thousand PKK fighters are believed to be
based in mountains inside Iraq's autonomous
Kurdistan region near the Turkish border.
Other guerrillas of the
PEJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan), since
2004 PEJAK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdistan province northwestern of
Iran. Half the members of PEJAK are women
"If they do not accept this (to suspend operations),
then let them go back to their countries and do such
a thing there," said Talabani, a Kurd.
"So far this is a request. We have not decided to do
anything against them."
Iraq's government in recent months
has protested against shelling by
Turkey and Iran of the border regions. Cross-border
skirmishes also occasionally occur between the
rebels and soldiers from Turkey and Iran.
Reuters
Iranian Kurdistan
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Īranź or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatź
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan)) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
More about Iranian Kurdistan
The present leader of the organisation is Haji
Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the
members of PEJAK are women, many of them still in
their teens, and one of the female members of the
leadership council is Gulistan Dugan, a psychology
graduate from the University of Tehran. This is due
primarily to the fact that PJAK is strongly
supportive of women's rights. PJAK believes that
women must have a strong role in government and must
be on an equal level with men in leadership
positions.
More about PEJAK- Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan
KDPI
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Kurdish
(Hīzbī Dźmokiratī Kurdistanī Źran) is a Kurdish
opposition group in Iranian Kurdistan which seeks
the attainment of Kurdish national rights within a
democratic federal republic of Iran.
The current
General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan is Mustafa Hijri
More about KDPI- Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran
** 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.
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.
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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 