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Australia urges Turkey to pull troops from
Iraqi Kurdistan
24.2.2008
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February 24, 2008
CANBERRA, Australia,-- Australian Foreign
Minister Stephen Smith on Sunday called on Turkey to
withdraw its troops from Iraqi Kurdistan region "as
soon as possible."
Smith said Turkey should recognise Iraq's
sovereignty and that its soldiers in Iraq should
leave.
"Irrespective of the number of troops, the Turks
should respect Iraq's sovereignty and they should
retreat back over the border as soon as possible,"
he told the Nine network.
Turkish troops cracked down on Kurdish rebels in
neighbouring Iraq as part of a
major ground
offensive Saturday as Ankara said dozens of rebels
and at least five soldiers had been killed.
Australia has about 1,550 military personnel in and
around Iraq but plans to withdraw combat troops from
the country by mid-year.
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',www.ekurd.net
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 on
Kurdistan TV channel in December 2006.
"If Turkey is really keen on fighting PKK members,
why shouldn't it fight them on its lands now that
there is an intensive presence of PKK inside
Turkey," Mahmoud Othman,www.ekurd.net
a prominent Kurdish
lawmaker said earlier. "Turkey has been committing
the crime of terrorism against the Kurdish people
since almost 100 years and isn't granting them their
rights." That's why it's not sensible to describe
the PKK as a terrorist organization. Because the PKK
is struggling against the terrorism committed being
committed by the Turkish government," Othman added.
Analysts believe the Turkish raids had a secondary
purpose of discouraging a referendum on Kirkuk city,
Kirkuk city is a
Kurdish city and it lies just south border of the
Kurdistan autonomous region, the population is a mix
of majority Kurds and
minority of Arabs, Christians and Turkmen. Article
140, in Iraq's 2005 constitution calls for a
referendum in Kirkuk “to
determine the will of the citizens to join
autonomous Kurdistan region or stay as a part of
Iraq” by the end of 2007. In
December 2007, Kurdish leaders agreed to a six-month
extension of that deadline, but no longer.
Turkey rejects direct talks with Iraqi Kurdistan
government, Officially, Turkey does not recognise
the regional government of
Kurdistan led by president Massoud Barzani.
Turkey has never, and still does not, recognize the
Kurdistan region government (KRG) and refuses to
meet with its
representatives in any official capacity. That
reflects Ankara's fear that any international
respect shown to the autonomous
Iraqi Kurdistan region would only embolden Turkey's
own large Kurdish minority to seek similar home-rule
status.
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
**
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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