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Turkish warplanes 'resume airstrikes'
inside Iraqi Kurdistan
30.1.2008
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January
30, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq',--
Turkish warplanes have resumed aerial attacks on
Kurdish rebel hideouts in Khowakork, along the
border between Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq',
Turkey and Iran, an unnamed source in the Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) told AKI on Wednesday.
"The Turkish planes carried out massive bombings
late on Tuesday in the strategic Khowakork area
which lasted more than one hour, forcing locals to
flee towards Erbil," he said.
"The attacks spread terror and anxiety amongst the
population," he added. |
Turkish fighter jets strikes inside
Iraqi Kurdistan on Wednesday |
"The Turkish airstrikes come after a period of
relative calm that had lasted for two weeks. Many
people had returned to their villages during this
time, convinced that the military operations were
over, especially as it had snowed," said the
anonymous PKK source.
The recent snowfalls had blocked roads to the area
pounded by the Turkish warplanes, making it very
difficult to reach and assess casualties and damage,
the source said.
Turkey's military and Kurdish security forces from
Iraqi Kurdistan region confirmed that airstrikes
were carried out on 15 January against Turkey's
Kurdish PKK rebel targets in Kurdistan 'northern
Iraq'.
The mid-January bombings were the fourth air strike
against PKK targets in Iraqi Kurdistan the Turkish
military has confirmed since 16 December,www.ekurd.net
in addition to a
cross-border ground operation to stop a group of
militants seeking to infiltrate Turkey.
At least 150 PKK militants have been killed and more
than 200 rebel positions destroyed in the offensive,
including command and training bases, ammunition
dumps and anti-aircraft posts, according to the
army.
Ankara says an estimated 4,000 PKK militants have
taken refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan.
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', Turkey fears this could
fan separatism among its own large Kurdish
population in southeast Turkey.
"Turkey's goal is not only the PKK but the whole
idea of an autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq,"
Massoud Barzani, the President of Kurdistan said on
Kurdistan TV channel on Saturday 23.Dec.2007
Fouad Hussein, the chief of staff for Iraqi
Kurdistan president Massoud Barzani, thinks that the
Turks are using the PKK as a pretext to attack the
Kurds. "The PKK is not the target. The target is
Kurdistan regional government," Hussein said earlier
last year.
Analysts believe the Turkish raids had a secondary
purpose of discouraging a quick referendum on Kirkuk
city, Kirkuk city is a Kurdish city and it lies just
south border of the Kurdistan autonomous region,www.ekurd.net
the population is a mix
of majority Kurds and minority of Arabs, Christians
and Turkmen. Article 140, in Iraq's 2005
constitution calls for a referendum in Kirkuk “to
determine the will of the citizens to join
autonomous Kurdistan region or stay as a part of
Iraq” by the end of 2007. In December 2007, Kurdish
leaders agreed to a six-month extension of that
deadline, but no longer.
Turkey has never, and still does not, recognize the
Kurdistan region government (KRG) and refuses to
meet with its representatives in any official
capacity. That reflects Ankara's fear that any
international respect shown to the autonomous Iraqi
Kurdistan region would only embolden Turkey's own
large Kurdish minority to seek similar home-rule
status.
Over 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. 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, 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.
adnkronos com | ekurd.net | Agencies
**
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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