|
Turkey confirms jets bombed Kurdish PKK
rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan
4.2.2008
|
|
|
|
Turkish warplanes heavily attacked some 70 PKK
targets in Kurdistan.
February 4, 2008
ANKARA, -- Turkey's military confirmed Monday
that its warplanes had carried out heavy raids for
several hours on suspected Turkey's Kurdish PKK
rebel hideouts in semi-autonomous Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq'.
"Turkish aircraft heavily attacked some 70 targets
from 3:00 am," a statement on the armed forces
website said, adding that the operations had
terminated at 3:15 pm (1515 GMT).
The statement gave no further details of the latest
attacks on bases of the Turkish separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) just across the Iraqi Kurdistan
border from southeastern Turkey. |
Turkish fighter jets strikes inside
Iraqi Kurdistan on Monday |
Earlier rebel and Iraqi military officials said
Turkish planes had attacked three Kurdish
settlements in a mountainous area of
northern Iraq known as a refuge for rebel Kurds.
Major General Jabar Yawar, a spokesman for the
peshmerga,www.ekurd.net
the armed force of
Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, said there were no
reports of victims.
A spokesman for the Kurdish rebels also confirmed
the attack.
Ahmed Dinis of the PKK said the hamlets were
deserted and no one was hurt. He would not say
whether any guerrillas were in the area when the
jets struck.
Turkey has carried out several air strikes in
northern Iraq since December, some using
intelligence supplied by the US forces in the
country, and has vowed to defeat what it says are
4,000 rebels using the Qandil region as a rear base.
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. 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,www.ekurd.net
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.
AFP | 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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 