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President Jalal Talabani of Iraq to visit
Turkey
5.3.2008
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March 5, 2008
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
will pay an official visit to Turkey within the next
few days, his office said Tuesday. The exact date
has not yet been set.
The visit was announced less than a week after
Turkish troops
withdrew from
Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' on Feb. 29,www.ekurd.net
ending an
8-day incursion
against Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels using bases in
semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq'.
Iraqi authorities have said they do not support the
PKK but objected to Turkey's military action.
Talabani, himself a Kurd,
welcomed the end of the incursion.
"The president will visit Turkey in the next few
days for two or three days," Nasser al-Ani, the head
of the president's office told The Associated Press
in a telephone interview. |
Iraqi President : Jalal Talabani, a Kurd |
Turkey's military chief
on Monday
threatened to
send troops into Iraqi Kurdistan again to fight
rebels of the Turkish Kurdistan Workers' Party, or
PKK.
The operation followed an October ambush by the PKK
that left 12 soldiers dead in a border area.
Since 1984 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 is considered a terrorist organization by
the U.S. and the EU.
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.
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.
The withdrawal of the Turkish troops came a day
after the United States urged the country to pull
its forces out of Iraq quickly, but Turkey has said
it decided to bring them home after its military
goals had been achieved.
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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