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Turkey refuses to close bases in Iraqi
Kurdistan
6.3.2008
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March 6, 2008
Turkey rejected a request by Iraqi Kurds to shut
down military bases in semi-autonomous Kurdistan
region in 'northern Iraq', Vatan newspaper reported
citing a statement by the Turkish army.
Turkey won't withdraw about 2,000 soldiers stationed
at the bases in the regions of Bamerni, Batufa,
Kanimasi and Dilmentepe until the threat to Turkey's
security posed by Turkey's Kurdish PKK militants is
eradicated, the army said, according to the
Istanbul-based Vatan.
Turkish military units have operated in Iraqi
Kurdistan region as an observation force since the
mid-1990s. Turkey on Feb. 29 ended a week-long
military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan to attack
Turkish-Kurdish PKK militants,www.ekurd.net
the biggest for more
than a decade.
Iraqi Kurds, including the regional Kurdistan
parliament, on February 27,
demanded the closure of
Turkish bases that have been inside
Iraqi Kurdistan territory for more than a decade in
the face of an
incursion by
Turkish troops against Turkish-Kurdish PKK rebels.
Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Kurdistan
government, said on February 23 that an agreement had
been in force since 1997 to allow the Turks to have
four military bases inside the Kurdistan region.
But the regional parliament approved a resolution
calling on the regional government to demand the
closure of the bases.
"We demand that the Turkish government leave the
bases which were established in the Kurdistan region
due to the exceptional circumstances the region
experienced before the fall of the former regime," the resolution read.
on February 27.
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.
bloomberg com | AFP | 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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