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Turkish artillery fires into Iraqi
Kurdistan
21.2.2008
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February 21, 2008
SULAIMANIYAH, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', --
Turkish artillery opened fire on Thursday on
suspected Turkish Kurdish insurgent PKK-positions in
Iraqi Kurdistan, Kurdish and rebel officials said.
Turkish forces at 11 am (0800 GMT) "bombed the
village of Bassiam, in the Khawarkurk region of
Erbil province, we still don't know if there are any
casualties -- the area was deserted except for some
PKK members,",www.ekurd.net
said General Jabar Yawar,
a spokesman for the Peshmerga security forces in
Iraq's largely autonomous region of Kurdistan. An
exchange of gunfire had followed.
He said the shells hit the remote, mountainous area
of Hakurk.
A spokesman for the outlawed Turkish separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Ahmed Banz, said the
Turkish artillery opened fire against the Qalirach
area, north of Erbil and near the border with
Turkey.
The Turkish army has since December 16 conducted
five air raids on PKK targets in Kurdistan 'northern
Iraq' and a cross-border land operation to stop a
group of militants from infiltrating Turkey.
Ankara says an estimated 4,000 PKK militants take
refuge in camps in the mountains of northern Iraq,
which they use as a springboard for attacks inside
Turkey.
The artillery barrage follows the February 13 visit
to Ankara of General James Cartwright,www.ekurd.net
vice chairman of the US
Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss joint military
efforts to curb separatist Kurdish rebels based in
north Iraq.
Washington has been supplying its NATO ally Turkey
with intelligence on PKK movements in Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq'.
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.
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.
AFP | 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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