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Turkish police clash with pro-Kurdish
protesters in Istanbul
3.3.2008
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March 3, 2008
ISTANBUL, Turkey, -- Turkish police fire tear
gas to disperse protesters Sunday opposed to the
offensive against Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels.
The backlash by pro-Kurdish party supporters in
Istanbul came two days after Turkey pulled its
troops out of Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' where it
sent a force of thousands to crush rebels believed
to use the region as a base for attacks on Turkish
territory.
Police in Istanbul has battled hundreds of
supporters of a pro-Kurdish party who chanted
slogans praising Turkish separatist Kurdish PKK
rebels during a protest denouncing Turkey's recent
incursion into Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region.
Riot police wearing gas masks used water cannons and
tear gas to disperse some four-hundred members of
the Democratic Society Party DTP,www.ekurd.net
which is frequently
accused by Ankara of links to the rebels of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
The protesters called for an end to military
operations against the Kurdish PKK and praised the
rebel group.
Thousands of Turkish troops, backed by tanks,
attack helicopters and warplanes,
crossed into Kurdistan region in 'northern
Iraq' on February 21 in an operation which Ankara said was aimed at Turkey's Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas and their bases.
The general staff
announced Friday it had ended a week-long ground
offensive against Turkey's separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in the autonomous
Kurdistan region in Iraq, pulling its forces out
in the early hours of the day. |
Turkish riot police fire tear gas after a
demonstration by the pro-Kurdish DTP party in
Istanbul March 2, 2008, against offensive against
Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels and Turkey's
cross-border ground incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan
Plainclothes police officers detain a protester
before a demonstration in Istanbul March 2, 2008,
who were gathering to protest against against
offensive against Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels and
cross-border ground incursion into Kurdistan region
in Iraq |
The withdrawal came a
day after
US President George W. Bush
urged Turkey to end its withdrawal
"as quickly as possible" and visiting US Defence
Secretary Robert Gates personally
put pressure on
Turkish leaders during talks in Ankara.
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.
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.
Information for this report was provided by APTN |
Reuters | AFP
**
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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