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Kurdish PKK fighters claim to inflict
casualties against Turks
26.2.2008
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February 26, 2008
Duhok, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',--
Turkish-Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said Tuesday
its fighters clashed with Turkish troops in Duhuk
province in Iraq’s Kurdistan autonomous region and
seized weapons and bodies of five soldiers.
‘PKK fighters attacked Turkish troops stationed in
the village of Jimji in Nirwa Wirkan on the border
with Turkey,’ a PKK source was cited by the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan on its website.
There were casualties in the heavy fighting that
erupted, the source said, without giving a figure.
Another PKK official said fighters launched an
attack on Turkish troops overnight in four positions
in Alzab. |
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said Tuesday
its fighters clashed with Turkish troops in Duhuk
province in Iraq’s Kurdistan autonomous region and
seized weapons and bodies of five soldiers. |
‘Turkish troops suffered 21 casualties, including
five soldiers, whose bodies are kept by PKK
fighters, PKK spokesman, Ahmed Denees, told the
Voices of Iraq news agency.
Fighters has foiled an attempt by Turkish commandos
to parachute into the Jimji area and forced them to
retreat, Denees said.
Clashes continue in Alzab and Bazya but came to a
halt in Irsh with the retreat of Turkish troops.
Earlier,www.ekurd.net
a Turkish news report
said Turkish commandos had parachuted into the
Qandil region near Iraq’s Kurdistan border with Iran
and had taken control of roads and passes in the
region. Other troops had reached around 25
kilometres inside mountainous of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Separately, an envoy of Turkish president Abdullah
Gul will hold talks in Baghdad Wednesday over the
military offensive, Iraq’s cabinet spokesman, Ali Al
Dabagh, said.
Turkey
launched ‘Operation Gunes’
on Thursday night, sending as many as 10,000 troops
into Kurdistan region of Iraq with the aim of
destroying the PKK’s ability to use northern Iraq as
a base from which to launch attacks on Turkey.
The Turkish military estimates there are between
4,000 to 5,000 PKK guerrillas based in the region.
Turkey blames the separatist group for the deaths of
more than 32,000 since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish- populated southeast of Turkey. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by
the United States and the European Union.
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.
Meanwhile Turkish Prime Ministerwww.ekurd.net
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
attempted to calm concerns that the incursion could
lead to instability in Iraq by reiterating that the
operations’ sole target was the PKK.
Turkey has never, and still does not, recognize the
Iraqi 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.
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.
Analysts believe the Turkish raids inside Iraqi
Kurdistan region had a secondary purpose of
discouraging a referendum on Kirkuk city. Ankara
fears that if the oil-rich Kirkuk joins Kurdistan,
the Kurds will have the economic foundation they
need for an independent state.
DPA | 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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