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Two Kurdish PKK rebels killed near Iraqi
Kurdistan border
6.5.2008
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May 6, 2008
ANKARA, -- Turkish border troops have killed
two Kurdish PKK rebels attempting to cross into
Turkey from Iraqi Kurdistan for attacks, the army
said Monday.
The clash with Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
rebels erupted Sunday near the town of Uludere in
Sirnak province in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast which borders Iraqi Kurdistan region,www.ekurd.net
the general staff said
in a statement on its Internet site.
Turkey has stepped up action against the group since
December and has carried out several air strikes and
in February, 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, where Ankara estimates more than
2,000 militants take refuge.
Turkey's parliament authorized cross-border military
action against the rebels for a period of one year
in October, paving the way for the ground offensive,
which was preceded by five bombing raids on PKK
targets in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'.
The Turkish army said Saturday that its latest air
raid on a major PKK stronghold in Kurdistan
'northern Iraq' last week killed more than 150
rebels, adding that senior rebel commanders may have
been among the dead.
But a PKK spokesman Ahmed Danis dismissed the
figures as
false, describing
them as psychological warfare. Danis dismissed the death toll
issued by the Turkish army and previous figures
published in the Turkish media.
"The Turkish government is indulging in
psychological warfare against the people of
Kurdistan and PKK," he said.
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.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel
group PKK and its political wing on
the European Union's terror list.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish politicians
say the measures fall short of their expectations.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, 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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