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Pro-Kurdish DTP party protests Turkish
raids in Iraq's Kurdistan
6.2.2008
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February 6, 2008
ISTANBUL, -- Members of a pro-Kurdish DTP
political party set up camp near the Iraq border to
protest Turkish military raids on Turkey's Kurdish
PKK rebels based on the other side. Separately, a
roadside bomb injured two police officers in a
border area where guerrillas are active, local media
reported Wednesday.
Activists from the Democratic Society Party drove in
dozens of vehicles Tuesday to Mt. Cudi in Sirnak
province to demand a peaceful solution to the long
conflict between the Turkish state and PKK rebels
who seek autonomy. The gathering was likely to
infuriate Turkish nationalists, who accuse the
Kurdish party of being a political front for the
guerrillas.
On Monday, the Turkish military said its warplanes
hit dozens of targets of the PKK rebel group in
Iraq, a periodic occurrence since the United States
said late last year that it would provide
intelligence to Turkey to help it hunt Kurdish
militants. Washington,www.ekurd.net
in turn, has pressed
Turkey to refrain from a major ground offensive
across the border that could destabilize the
relatively tranquil Kurdistan region of 'northern
Iraq'.
The PKK traditionally scales down attacks during the
winter, and despite Turkish claims of success, there
is no independent confirmation that aerial raids
have diminished its fighting capacity. The rebels
have not staged any large-scale ambushes since
October, but two police were injured in a blast late
Tuesday in the town of Yuksekova, in Hakkari
province, where the borders of Turkey, Kurdistan
region 'Iraq' and Iran meet.
Police said the bomb was detonated by remote control
as the police vehicle passed by, the Anatolia news
agency reported. One officer was seriously hurt in
the explosion, which shattered windows in nearby
homes and offices. Police set up roadblocks at the
entrance of the city to try ti catch the assailants.
In the overnight gathering near Mt. Cudi, Kurdish
lawmakers and supporters slept in tents and danced
around a camp fire at dawn. They urged the Turkish
parliament to rescind the authorization that it gave
to the government to carry out cross-border raids
against the Turkish-Kurdish PKK, saying the
guerrillas in turn should refrain from hostilities.
"We don't need another 30 years or another 30,000
deaths to understand that the policy of violence
doesn't solve the Kurdish problem," lawmaker Emine
Ayla said in a speech from the top of a bus.
Ayla also called for an improvement in the "living
and health conditions" of Abdullah Ocalan, the
founder of the PKK who is serving a life sentence on
an island prison. In defiance of Turkish law, some
people in the crowd held posters that showed
Ocalan's image.
Ocalan's welfare is a chief concern for lawmakers
from the Democratic Society Party, reflecting the
sway that the imprisoned leader holds over many
Kurds. Ocalan built the PKK into a Stalinist
organization in which dissent was sometimes met with
execution,www.ekurd.net
and the group's brutal
tactics earned it a «terrorist» label from the West.
The Democratic Society Party won 20 seats in the
550-seat legislature in general elections last year,
leading to hopes that the many disaffected Kurds in
Turkey were poised to play a meaningful political
role in a state that had effectively denied them a
voice for years.
But the mood has soured since then, with prosecutors
seeking to close down the party because of allegedly
subversive activity. On Wednesday, the leader of the
party, Nurettin Demirtas, went on trial on charges
that he used forged health documents to avoid
military service.
Demirtas, who was jailed for 10 years for PKK
membership and denies the current charges, faces up
to five years in prison. Most Turkish men must serve
in the army for up to 15 months, and many do their
service in zones where Kurdish rebels are active.
Since December 16, the Turkish army has said it has
carried out five air strikes against rebel positions
in Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq' as well as a
ground cross-border operation to stop a group of
rebels trying to infiltrate Turkey.
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 is home to
over 25 million ethnic Kurds
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, granting them full
political freedoms.
The group is listed as a "terrorist" organisation by
Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
AP | 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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