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Turkey asks U.K. to pressure Iraqi Kurds
on PKK
21.1.2008
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January
21, 2008
Ankara, -- Turkey will ask the U.K.
government to pressure the regional Kurdish
administration in Kurdistan region in 'northern
Iraq' to do more to deal with militants of the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, the Vatan
newspaper reported.
Turkish military chief Yasar Buyukanit will relay
Turkey's concerns about the PKK to British
counterpart General Richard
Dannet and U.K. Defense Secretary Des Browne during
meetings in London today and tomorrow, Vatan said.
Since Dec.16 last
year, Turkish warplanes bombed the PKK's hideouts in
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' with the help of
intelligence provided by U.S. military personnel.
The Turkish military has recently launched several
cross-border attacks to fight against separatist PKK
rebels,www.ekurd.net
who use Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' as a
launch pad for attacks against Turkey.
Turkey has massed up to 100,000 soldiers in its
southeast near the Iraqi Kurdistan border, and in
October the Ankara government secured a one-year
parliamentary authorisation for cross-border
military action to hunt down Turkish Kurdish PKK
rebels.
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.
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, the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, granting them full
political freedoms.
The PKK, listed as a "terrorist" group by Ankara, US
and EU.
bloomberg com | 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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