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Turkish envoy says no timetable to pull
out troops from Iraqi Kurdistan
27.2.2008
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February 27, 2008
BAGHDAD, -- Turkey will not set a timetable
for the withdrawal of troops fighting
Turkish-Kurdish PKK guerrillas in Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq', a Turkish envoy said on Wednesday
after crisis talks in Baghdad, despite U.S. pressure
for a quick resolution.
Turkey's military General Staff said another 77
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels had been killed
in heavy fighting since Tuesday night,www.ekurd.net
taking the death toll
among the rebels to 230 since the operation began a
week ago.
"Our objective is clear, our mission is clear and
there is no timetable until ... those terrorist
bases are eliminated," senior Turkish envoy Ahmet
Davutoglu said after talks with Iraqi Foreign
Minister Hoshiyar Zebari.
Thousands of
Turkish troops crossed the
border last Thursday to root out
Turkish-Kurdish PKK fighters, Ankara says they used
the mountainous of Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' as a
base for their fight for self-rule in the mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey since the 1990s. Kurdish
authorities in Kurdistan region strongly reject the
claim
Acting Iraqi Prime Minister Dr Barham Saleh warned
that a prolonged offensive would lead to "dire"
consequences for the region and repeated Baghdad's
demand that the incursion end.
"The consequences are dire. This is a very
dangerous, precarious situation," Saleh, a Kurd,
told Reuters. He said the operation had "not been
conducive to Iraq-Turkey relations."
The Turkish General Staff said five more Turkish
soldiers had been killed since late Tuesday, taking
their losses to 24.
Davutoglu, chief foreign policy adviser to Turkish
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, was meeting Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani as well as Zebari, both
Kurds, during a one-day visit.
Iraq on Tuesday condemned the incursion as a
violation of its sovereignty and, in its strongest
comments so far, called for the immediate withdrawal
of Turkish troops.
Ankara says it is engaged in a legitimate fight
against what it and Washington describe as a
terrorist organization.
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 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
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.
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.
The Turkish general staff released photographs on
Wednesday of its troops in northern Iraq,www.ekurd.net
sitting and traipsing
through snow as well as reconnoitring the terrain.
Warplanes, attack helicopters and artillery are
supporting ground troops.
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.
Reuters | 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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