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Turkish Jets Bomb 60 Kurdish PKK Targets
inside Iraqi Kurdistan
19.1.2008
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January
19, 2008
Ankara, -- Turkish warplanes destroyed some
60 Turkey's Kurdish PKK guerrilla targets in
Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq' during an
operation this week, Turkey's General Staff said on
Friday.
Tuesday's strikes on Turkey's Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) positions in the Kurdistani mountainous
region near Turkey's border followed a series of
cross-border attacks by aircraft in December aimed
at crushing the Turkish rebel group.
There have so far been no reports of casualties or
damage caused by the latest raid on targets in the
regions of Zap-Sivi, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk. |
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"During the operation
... some 60 targets, confirmed as being used solely
by the terror organization, came under fire from our
warplanes," the General Staff said in a statement.
It said targets hit included command posts, shelters
and training and logistics sites used by the
guerrillas.
The General Staff said it was trying to assess the
number of PKK casualties and would continue its
operations.
In October, the Turkish parliament authorized the
military to strike at the rebels across the border.
Ankara says 3,000 PKK rebels are based in Kurdistan
'northern Iraq' mountains, from where they launch
raids on Turkey. Some 100,000 Turkish troops are
massed along the border with Iraqi Kurdistan but
Ankara is not expected to launch a major
cross-border land incursion.
Iraqi Kurdistan politician says, Turkey is using
Turkey's Kurdish separatist PKK rebel group as an
excuse to invade Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent
the establishment of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish
autonomous region in 'northern Iraq',www.ekurd.net
Turkey fears this could
fan separatism among its own large Kurdish
population in southeast Turkey.
In a separate statement on Friday, the General Staff
said 21 PKK rebels had surrendered to Turkish forces
in the past month.
Turkish forces shelled two areas in Duhok on January
11, without causing significant damage or injury.
That shelling followed a January 3 bomb attack in
the southeast Turkish city of Diyarbakir blamed on
the PKK. The death toll in that bombing rose to
seven on Friday after one of the casualties died in
hospital from his injuries.
Since 1984 the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. A
large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas,www.ekurd.net
the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, granting them full
political freedoms.
The group is listed as a "terrorist" organisation by
Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Reuters
**
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, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community 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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