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Turkish military starts annual autumn
operations against Kurdish PKK rebels
24.9.2007 |
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September
24, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- The Turkish Armed Forces have launched
its annual fall military operations against the
outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), a month
earlier than previous years, local Today's Zaman
(Time) reported on Monday.
Annual operations usually start in October, but this
year brought both an earlier start and an expanded
area, leaving 16 PKK members killed and 6 others
captured in intensive counter- terrorism operations
during last week, said the English-language
newspaper.
According to the report, four terrorists were killed
Sunday morning in a raid by the security forces in
the Cukurca district of Hakkari province of
southeastern Turkey and operations were continuing
in the temporary security zones of provinces of
Sirnak, Siirt, Hakkari, Mus, Diyarbakir, Bitlis,
Bingol and Tunceli.
There were approximately 40,000 troops involved in
the operations, which were carried out in the rural
parts of Turkey's southeastern region, it said.
Village guards and locals armed by the state against
the PKK were called to duty indefinitely in order to
assist the security forces, the report said.
Three months ago, the Turkish military installed
sensor devices in the major army posts and at
strategic points along the Iraqi Kurdistan border,
making it much easier to pursue the PKK members.
In addition, new radars were installed in the region
to give military forces full control of the PKK's
passage routes, the newspaper said.
The PKK has increased attacks on Turkish troops in
southeastern Turkey in recent months, which led to
rising Turkish demands for an incursion into
northern Iraq to crush the rebels based there.
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed 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.
Turkey, United States and the European Union, class
the PKK as a "terrorist organisation"
Source: Xinhua
**
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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