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Large convoy of Turkish military vehicles
seen heading toward border with Iraqi Kurdistan
28.3.2008
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March 28, 2008
ANKARA, Turkey, -- A convoy of 250 Turkish
military trucks and civilian buses is headed toward
the border with Iraqi Kurdistan, nearly a month
after a Turkish cross-border operation against
Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels, a news agency reported
Thursday.
The vehicles approached the border Kurdish village
of Derecik in Hakkari province on Wednesday evening,
Dogan news agency said. The vehicles traveled with
their headlights off,www.ekurd.net
according to a news
agency reporter who saw the convoy.
Helicopters also ferried dozens of troops to the
border from the town of Semdinli on Thursday
morning, Dogan said. |
Large convoy of Turkish military vehicles seen
heading toward border with Iraqi Kurdistan region |
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.
It was the largest reported activity by the Turkish
military near the Iraqi Kurdistan region border
since Turkey
ended an
eight-day incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan on Feb. 29
after US President George W. Bush
urged Ankara to
quickly wrap up the incursion and Defense Secretary
Robert Gates personally
put pressure on
Turkish leaders during a visit to Ankara.
Turkey's military has said it would carry out more
cross-border attacks if needed, but has made no
comment on the latest activity.
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.
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.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by
the U.S. and the EU.
Information for this report was provided by
AP | 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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