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Turkish general says troops will go into
Iraqi Kurdistan again if needed
3.3.2008
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Turkey Threatens Iraqi Kurdistan Again
March 3, 2008
ANKARA, -- Turkey's military chief on Monday
threatened to send the armed forces into Iraq's
Kurdistan region again to "teach further lessons" to
the Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels and claimed that a
recent incursion was a success despite harsh winter
conditions.
"There are further lessons that we need to teach,"
Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told journalists in a briefing
on Turkey's eight-day incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan
to chase rebels of the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers'
Party,www.ekurd.net
or PKK. "There will be
operations when needed. We will continue. We will
try to inflict heavier blows on the PKK."
Buyukanit said the troops carried out raids against
rebel positions at night and in deep snow. |
Turkish General Yasar Buyukanit |
"They have turned
disadvantages into advantages due to the operational
capability of the armed forces," Buyukanit said.
Turkey
withdrew from Kurdistan
'northern Iraq' on Feb. 29, eight days after the
ground incursion
was launched to hit rebels who use their bases in
Iraqi Kurdistan as a launch pad for hit-and-run
attacks on Turkish targets.
Buyukanit said the troops have killed at least 240
rebels out of some 300 who were detected in the Zap
region close to the Turkish border. Gen. Ilker
Basbug,www.ekurd.net
chief of the Land
Forces, said there were between 2,320 and 2,640
rebels in northern Iraq before the operation.
"We targeted Zap because it is where the armed
attacks of the PKK against Turkey are masterminded,"
Buyukanit said.
The operation followed an ambush by the PKK in
October that left 12 soldiers dead in Daglica area
along the rugged border.
"After Daglica, we needed to teach a lesson to the
PKK and we did," Buyukanit said.
Buyukanit again denied that Turkish troop withdrawal
had anything to do with U.S. pressure on Turkey to
pull out.
"Speculation that Turkey got out because the United
States said go out is not true," Buyukanit said. "If
they can prove it, I will take off this uniform."
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.
"We could not carry out the operation for another
week, otherwise we would have suffered losses" due
to the cold weather, Buyukanit said.
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.
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.
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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