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Turkey resumes air strikes in Iraqi
Kurdistan
5.3.2008
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March 5, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', --
Turkish military helicopters attacked Turkey's
Kurdish PKK separatist rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq' less than a week after the
end of a large-scale ground operation, a Turkish
television station reported Wednesday.
Turkish warplanes bombed villages in Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq' on Tuesday, Iraq's Kurdistan
border officials said on Wednesday.
Turkey's military did not confirm or deny the report
by the private station NTV, which cited Iraqi Kurd
officials as saying the Turks had carried out
attacks in the region of Sidekan.
Saleh Ali, a captain in the Iraqi Kurdish border
guards (Peshmerga), told The AP that Turkish
aircraft bombarded Dashti Barzji,www.ekurd.net
an uninhabited area in
Erbil province about 15 miles from the border. He
said he had no information about damage. |
Turkish warplanes bombed border villages in
Kurdistan region on Tuesday |
At about the same time,
Turkish aircraft struck two villages in the Zete
area of Erbil province, local officials said. There
was no word on any damage or casualties, they said.
On Friday the Turkish military
ended an eight-day ground
incursion against the Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. U.S. officials
pressured Turkey to quickly wrap up the operation.
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 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.
The decision to end the incursion prompted criticism
in Turkey, where the opposition accused the
government of bowing to pressure from Washington to
end the campaign prematurely.
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.
Turkish forces withdrew
from semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in 'northern
Iraq' Friday morning, only a day after US President
George W. Bush
urged Ankara to
quickly wrap up the incursion and Defense Secretary
Robert Gates personally
put pressure on
Turkish leaders during a visit to Ankara.
Turkish soldiers
crossed into Kurdistan region
in 'northern Iraq' on February 21 for what officials
described as a limited incursion against the PKK
after two months of air strikes on rebel positions.
AP | Reuters
**
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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