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Turkey builds wall to prevent PKK
'attacks' from Iraqi Kurdistan
7.9.2007 |
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September 7, 2007
ANKARA, -- The Turkish Army began plans to
put up an wall along borders with Iraqi Kurdistan to
prevent Kurdish PKK rebels from infiltrating into
Turkey and launch attacks, Turkish Anatolia Agency
said on Thursday.
The 470-kilometer-long wall, would be built in
cooperation with ground and air forces, with the
cost of USD 2.3 billion, the Agency said, adding
that state-of-the-art cameras would be installed on
the wall to monitor the area day and night.
Also, electronic and thermal monitoring devices
would be placed in the rough terrains of the
mountains, where the wall would not cover and the
Army could not reach, the Agency said.
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.
The United States and the European Union, like
Turkey, class the PKK as a "terrorist organisation"
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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)
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