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PKK rebels to surrender to Turkey in a
gesture of support for Turkey's Kurdish initiative
19.10.2009
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PKK
group to surrender to Turkey for Kurdish rights
October
19, 2009
ANKARA, Turkey, — A group of the Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas is expected
to surrender to Turkish military forces on Monday in
a gesture of support for Turkey's Kurdish
initiative, a PKK official said late on Saturday.
Eight fighters from a PKK camp in Qandil Mountains
in the border area with Kurdistan region in Iraq's
north will cross the border to Turkey on the wishes
of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan,www.ekurd.netsaid
Rouzh Welat, a member of the group's foreign affairs
department.
Two other groups of refugees and PKK supporters are
expected to enter Turkey on Monday.
"The command of the PKK has decided to support the
peace initiative with Turkey ... by sending three
groups including supporters and members (of the PKK)
who live in Iraq and Europe to Turkey on Monday in
order to support peace and solve the Kurdish case in
Turkey peacefully," said Welat.
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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 government has been
working on a Kurdish initiative that is expected to
give greater freedoms to Turkey's large Kurdish
minority, including language rights by which Kurdish
may be taught in public universities.
The reform process is seen as vital to boosting
Turkey's European Union membership application and
ending a 25-year conflict between the Turkish state
and the Kurdish separatist PKK.
Another group of 26 refugees from Makhmour Camp in
northern Iraq was also expected to return to Turkey.
Many Turkish citizens fled their homes in southeast
Turkey in the 1990s amidst violence between the
military and the PKK.
Since 1984 the PKK took up arms
for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of
Turkey (Turkey-Kurdistan) which has claimed around
45,000 lives of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas. A large Turkey's Kurdish
community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK
rebels. Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish
population as a distinct minority.
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,www.ekurd.net
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.
Ankara is currently working on a package of fresh
reforms to expand the freedoms of the Kurdish
community, but has rejected calls to halt military
action against the PKK.
Turkey's estimated 25 million Kurds, of a population
of 72 million, have long complained of
discrimination by the state.
Ocalan, who was imprisoned in 1999, continues to
lead the PKK from his island cell off the Istanbul
coast, but has focused lately on support for
improved Kurdish rights in Turkey as a means to
ending the conflict.
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.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
Reuters | Agencies
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