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Iraqi Kurds vow to resist any new Turkish
strike
6.3.2008
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March 6, 2008
DUHOK, Kurdistan region 'Iraq, -- "I'm a
fighter on the inside, my priority is to defend
Kurdistan," said a female college student in Duhok,
a mountainous snowbound town in far Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq' near the border with Turkey.
Rosshat, 24, whose name means "sunrise' in Kurdish,
is among several Iraqi Kurds in Duhok who have vowed
to take up arms for their homeland if the Turkish
military strikes again.
"I'm ready to join them, nothing can prevent me if
that's what it takes," said Roshhat, who declined to
give her last name for security reasons. "Don't be
fooled by my Western clothes."
The danger of another Turkish incursion is real
after a week-long offensive that ended last week on
the snowy mountains of the Zap region near the
Turkish border,www.ekurd.net
where Turkish Kurdish
PKK rebels have a base and a training camp.
Despite the troop pullout, Turkish army chief Yasar
Buyukanit on Monday threatened further strikes on
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels holed
up in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'.
And on Wednesday the PKK claimed that Turkish
warplanes and artillery had
again fired on targets in the
Kurdistan region of northern Iraq --
for the first time since the end of the offensive.
They said bombs and artillery shells hit targets in
the Bazger valley, in the province of Erbil -- the
capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
Over 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 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.
Roshhat said she and her friends closely followed
news of the Turkish incursion last month and had
already decided to join the fight. "But Turkish
troops withdrew,www.ekurd.net
and the situation is
back to normal," she said.
In any case "I'm ready to go back to the mountains
and leave college to fight."
Another potential PKK recruit is Zakaryat, 23, who
takes classes at the town's technical institute. "We
are tired of the bloodshed and of losing our loved
ones every day," Zakaryat said.
"Turkey must acknowledge our rights and give up
their Ottoman mentality," she added, referring to
the empire based in Constantinople that ruled much
of the Middle East until the end of World War I.
"How long will Turkey continue thinking like this?
Haven't they understood yet that this issue will not
be solved by fighting?.
"Do they not understand that we are fighting to take
revenge because they killed our families? They must
know that they cannot eliminate a whole nation," she
added.
There are some 25 million people of Kurdish
background in a swathe of land that encompasses
areas of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
General Ilker Basbug, commander of Turkey's land
forces, said at a recent press conference that there
were two main reasons why the PKK can get recruits:
"effective PKK propaganda, plus unemployment and
poverty."
Even veteran combatants like Ferat Beran, 31, say
they are ready to take up arms again to "fight
Turkey if it attacks Kurdistan again."
Beran had fought 10 years in PKK ranks, but retired
to recover from injuries suffered following a border
clash with Turkish troops in 1997.
"I was forced to abandon arms after realising that I
could no longer walk and move in the rugged
mountains like the others," he said.
Beran turns to a large map of Kurdistan pinned to
the wall of his humble home. "I remain in contact
with them. None of my close friends was killed, but
I know nothing about the others."
Today Beran works in a small shop that sells water
pipes in Duhok, and barely makes enough to pay the
bills. "For that reason, I am ready to fight again
and to give up this life that I'm tired of," he
said.
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.
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.
AFP | Agencies
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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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