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Iraqi FM: Turk incursion into Iraqi
Kurdistan not major
22.2.2008
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February 22, 2008
BAGHDAD - Turkey's military has only sent
several hundred troops into a remote part of
Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq' to hunt rebels
from the Turkish-Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on
Friday.
"There has not been any major incursion or land
invasion through the border. What is going on is
around a few hundred Turkish forces have crossed the
border looking for the PKK or their bases," Zebari
told Reuters by telephone.
In Ankara, a senior military source said thousands
of Turkish troops had crossed in their hunt for the
guerrillas. Turkish TV said some
10,000 soldiers had entered
Iraqi Kurdistan.
Zebari said he had summoned the charge d'affaires
from the Turkish embassy in Baghdad to protest the
incursion. |
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari |
He said Turkish troops
had crossed no further than 5 km (3 miles) inside
the border.
"But this area is very isolated. It's not
inhabited," Zebari said.
A senior Kurdish official also said the incursion
was limited to what he called a remote area.
Turkish PM says Iraq
incursion limited
The Turkish army's ground incursion against
separatist Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq is
limited in scope, Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.
"The target, purpose, size and parameters of this
operation are limited," Erdogan said in televised
remarks,www.ekurd.net
underlining that the
incursion targeted only rebels of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party.
"Our armed forces will come back in the shortest
time possible as soon as they achieve their
objectives," he added.
"Several hundred, possibly a battalion of Turkish
special forces, went in to pursue (rebels) in what
they think is a PKK area," the official told
Reuters.
Over 39,000 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 rebels.
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, ranting them full
political freedoms.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by
the U.S. and the EU.
Reuters | 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, 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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