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Nine Kurdish PKK rebels killed in Turkey
clashes
23.9.2007 |
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September
23, 2007
ANKARA, -- Nine Kurdish rebels have been
killed in two separate clashes with the army in
Turkey's restive southeast, the military said
Saturday.
One of the clashes, in which four militants of the
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were
killed, occurred overnight in a mountainous area in
the province of Hakkari, which borders Iraq and
Iran, a statement on the army's website said.
Five others were killed in fighting in the
neighbouring province of Sirnak on Friday, it said.
The security forces also seized weapons and
explosives in the clashes.
The PKK, which has bases in neighbouring northern
Iraq, has stepped up its military activity this
year.
The group, considered a terrorist organisation by
Ankara, the United States and the European Union,
has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's mainly
Kurdish east and southeast since 1984. The conflict
has claimed more than 37,000 lives. Turkey is home
to over 25 million ethnic Kurds.
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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