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Turkish troops target main Kurd PKK rebel
camp in Iraqi Kurdistan
26.2.2008
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February 26, 2008
AMEDI, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',-- Turkish
troops, backed by fighter jets, closed in on a main
rebel base Tuesday in their offensive against
Turkish-Kurdish PKK separatists in Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq' that has so far claimed at least 170
lives.
Kurdish regional security forces in the Iraqi
autonomous region of Kurdistan reported sustained
fighting overnight as Turkish soldiers advanced on
the base in the Zap area.
The camp, situated in a deep valley just a six-kilometer
(four-mile) walk from the Turkish border,www.ekurd.net
has been identified by
the military as a major staging post used by
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels to
launch attacks into Turkish territory. |
Turkish commandos patrol a road near the
Turkey-Iraqi Kurdistan border |
The Turkish army says it
has killed 153 rebels and lost 17 soldiers since it
launched its
cross-border incursion
against PKK bases in Iraqi Kurdistan on Thursday
evening.
Ankara says an estimated 4,000 rebels use the region
as a safe haven to organise cross-border raids in
their struggle for self-rule in southeast Turkey.
At least 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 claims to have killed 81 soldiers since the
offensive began.
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.
Baghdad and Washington have both called on Ankara to
show restraint and wrap up its offensive as soon as
possible.
"We hope that this is just a short-term incursion,"
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters
Monday.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates was in India and
scheduled to fly Wednesday to Ankara for talks on
the military action.
The United States has provided Turkey with real-time
intelligence on rebel movements, but is deeply
concerned that a long-term offensive might undermine
one of Iraq's relatively stable regions.
Turkey insists the PKK are the sole operational
target and that its troops will pull back once they
have achieved their objective of flushing out the
rebels.
Clashes continued in the mountainous Hakurk area to
the east,www.ekurd.net
close to Iraq's
Kurdistan border with Iran, where the Turkish army
air-dropped troops and helicopter gunships pounded
rebel positions on Monday.
PKK fighters suffered "heavy losses under fire from
close quarters" as they tried to escape, the Turkish
general staff said in a statement Monday.
Warplanes hit around 30 targets deep in Iraqi
Kurdistan on the route of the Turkish advance, it
said.
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Army Chief Yasar Buyukanit
joined thousands in Ankara Monday for the funeral of
three soldiers slain in the offensive as mourners
chanted anti-PKK slogans.
In Diyarbakir, the main city in the mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey, up to 10,000 people spilled
into the streets in protest against the government
for ordering troops into Kurdistan-Iraq.
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
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