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Three Turk security personnel killed in
Kurdish PKK clash
1.4.2008
By staff
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April 1, 2008
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Three members of Turkey's
security forces were killed and a number of others
injured on Monday in a clash with Kurdish PKK rebels
in mountains near the Iraqi Kurdistan border,
security officials said.
The clash occurred in Sirnak province where security
forces have been battling members of the Turkey's
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for about a
week as part of an annual spring military crackdown
on the guerrillas as the winter snows melt.
The clashes are continuing and more troops have been
sent to the area,www.ekurd.net
the officials said, adding that
F-16 warplanes have also been deployed against the
rebels.
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.
Last month, the Turkish military, helped by
intelligence provided by Washington, its NATO ally,
staged a major, week-long
ground campaign
into nearby Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to
crush PKK rebels. Turkish forces
withdrew
from semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in 'northern
Iraq' on February 29, only a day 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.
The military General Staff says 240 rebels were
killed in that operation, along with 27 of its own
men.
The General Staff said its forces killed at least 15
PKK members in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' last week
using long-range land weapons and air strikes, the
first such casualties reported inside Iraq since the
land campaign ended.
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.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S. and the EU.
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.
Information for this report was provided by 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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