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Istanbul: Turkish police foil Kurdish PKK
bomb attack
16.3.2008
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March 16, 2008
ISTANBUL, Turkey, -- Turkish police have
arrested five suspected members of the Turkey's
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who were
preparing to stage a bomb attack, the state
Anatolian news agency said on Saturday.
The arrests came after police raids in several
districts of Istanbul and the seizure of bomb-making
equipment and documents, the agency said.
The detainees are believed to have been targeting a
public institution, which was not identified, and to
have been behind seven previous bomb attacks against
offices and vehicles.
The news came as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
confirmed his government's plans for a state TV
channel to broadcast in the Kurdish language,www.ekurd.net
part of reforms he hopes
will help sap support for the PKK rebels in Turkey's
mainly Kurdish southeast. Turkey's Kurds say
Erdogan's economic package
not enough to solve Kurdish
issue, Kurdish politician from the
DTP pary in Turkey said they feel while a massive
economic package could help the Kurdish people of
the region it will not solve the overall problem if
they are not supported by proper political, cultural
and social measures.
The DTP sources said they feel while a massive
economic package could help the people of the region
it will not solve the overall problem if they are
not supported by proper political, cultural and
social measures.
Istanbul city is home to over 1 million ethnic
Kurds.
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.
Much of the violence has been concentrated in
Turkey's impoverished southeast,www.ekurd.net
though PKK militants
have also staged attacks in Istanbul and other
western Turkish cities and towns.
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 PKK is considered a terrorist organization by
Ankara, U.S. and the EU.
Reuters | 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 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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