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Erbil: Kurdish students demonstrate
against Turkish offensive
27.2.2008
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February 27, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', --
Hundreds of Kurdish students, denouncing the
military offensive launched by the Turkish army
against Turkey's Kurdish PKK guerrillas inside Iraq'
Kurdistan region, took to the streets in Erbil on
Wednesday.
Raising placards calling to "stop the bloodshed,"
demonstrating students, mostly Kurds from Turkey,
Iran, and Syria studying at the College of Arts
University of Salahaddin,www.ekurd.net
condemned the Turkish
reaction towards Turkey's Kurdistan's Workers party
(PKK) and the Turkish advance into Kurdistan region.
"Turkey wants to undermine the gains of Kurds and
Kurdistan," Nizar Hussein, a student, told Aswat
al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
Denouncing Turkey’s large-scale offensive, a female
student Rizan Karim considered it as a "Turkish
attempt to occupy Kurdistan."
Accusing the Turkish Kurdistan's Workers Party (PKK)
of conducting armed attacks inside Turkish
territories, Turkish troops have
launched a large-scale
military campaign across Iraqi
Kurdistan borders since Thursday to crack down on
PKK fighters ensconced in the mountainous area.
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 is considered a terrorist organization by
Turkey, U.S. and EU. Nearly 39,000 Turkish soldiers
and Kurdish PKK guerrillas have been killed since
1984.
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.
VOI | 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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