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Turkish jets pound Kurdish rebels in Iraqi
Kurdistan for the fifth day
25.2.2008
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February
25, 2008
AMADIYAH, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq',-- Turkish
fighter jets have pounded Turkish-Kurdish PKK rebel
positions for the fifth day running Monday in the
border mountainous Hakurk region of Kurdistan
'northern Iraq', security sources told AFP.
Members of the Kurdish security force in the
autonomous Kurdistan region said the raids, which
began around 10:00 pm (2000 GMT) Sunday, continued
overnight in and around Hakurk, a prominent PKK
stronghold some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the
Turkish frontier.
Billows of smoke could be seen miles away, they
said.
The Firat news agency, considered to be a PKK
mouthpiece, said on its Internet site that warplanes
took off from the military air base in Diyarbakir,www.ekurd.net
the main Kurdish city in
Turkey's southeast, late Sunday. |
Turkish fighter jets have pounded Turkish-Kurdish
PKK rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan |
The raids came after fighting intensified between
Turkish troops and PKK rebels around Hakurk.
Turkish troops
crossed into Kurdistan region
in 'northern Iraq' Thursday evening in the largest
cross-border offensive in years against PKK hideouts
in the region, bombing rebel positions and fighting
the militants on the ground.
The Turkish army said Sunday that it killed 112 PKK
rebels and lost 15 soldiers since the beginning of
the incursion.
Ankara says an estimated 4,000 PKK rebels are holed
up in northern Iraq and use the region as a
springboard for attacks on Turkish territory as part
of their campaign for self-rule in Kurdish-majority
southeast Turkey. Kurdish authorities in Kurdistan
region strongly reject the claim.
Turks are fearful of the autonomy the northern Iraqi
Kurdistan region enjoys with its own flag,
institutions and even oil exploitation contracts
with overseas companies.
A fully independent Kurdistan state in Iraq would
only fuel separatist sentiment in Turkey's own
Kurdish population, they fear.
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," Massoud
Barzani, the President of Kurdistan said earlier.
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.
Meanwhile AP reported that Turkish troops fired
dozens of salvos of artillery shells across the
Iraqi Kurdistan border on Monday,www.ekurd.net
a day after the military
confirmed that a
Turkish helicopter crashed in
Kurdistan and eight military
personnel were killed during a cross-border ground
operation against Turkish-Kurdish PKK rebels.
The sound of the artillery fire from a distance
could be heard in this border town of Cukurca.
Several military bases that support the incursion
into Iraqi Kurdistan are on its outskirts, and
artillery units have been positioned on hilltops
overlooking Iraq.
PUK website reported that “Turkish artillery had
shelled the border areas of Nerwa and Rekan near the
Turkish borders. Number of casualties is still
unknown.” and a heavy clashes have taken place
between the Turkish army and PKK elements in Rush
Mountain area since yesterday and are still going
on.
Eyewitnesses at the border villages of Kurdistan
Region mentioned that Turkish warplanes flow the
airspace of Nerwa and Rekan areas in Amedi District,
Duhok Province
AFP | AP | PUKmedia com
**
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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