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Turkish warplanes bomb Kurdish PKK rebel
targets inside Iraqi Kurdistan
4.2.2008
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Turkish warplanes destroy 15 houses in Erbil.
February 4, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq',--
Turkish war planes bombed Kurdish guerrilla targets
in three villages just inside semi-autonomous
Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq' early on Monday,
a senior Iraqi border security official said.
Turkish warplanes pounded villages of Erbil province
during the early hours of Monday, destroying 15
houses, the mayor of Soran district said.
"Fifteen houses were completely destroyed as a
result of attacks by Turkish warplanes on the
villages of Zayni, Dawli and Khuwakark in Erbil
province," Karmanj Ezzat said, giving no further
details. Erbil is the Iraqi Kurdistan's capital. |
Turkish fighter jets strikes inside
Iraqi Kurdistan on Monday |
The official said five war planes carried out the
bombing raid between 3.00 a.m. and 6.00 a.m. (7 p.m.
EST - 10 p.m. EST Sunday). He had no information on
casualties or damage.
Turkey has been carrying out periodic raids on
positions of the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
in the mountainous region near Turkey's border aimed
at crushing the Turkish rebel group.
The Iraqi security official said the raids targeted
the Kurdish villages of Khunera, Khwa Kourk and
Berkum just inside the border of Kurdistan in
northern Iraq.
Ankara says 3,000 PKK rebels are based in the
Kurdistan-northern Iraq mountains,www.ekurd.net
from where they launch
raids on Turkey. Some 100,000 Turkish troops are
massed along the border with Iraq 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', Turkey fears this could
fan separatism among its own large Kurdish
population in southeast Turkey.
Nearly 40,000 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.www.ekurd.net
A
large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise
with the Kurdish PKK group.
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.
Reuters | VOI
**
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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