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New reports say Kurdish PKK rebel
supporters hurl fire bombs at Turkish police
station; no injuries
30.11.2009 |
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November 30, 2009
ANKARA, Turkey, — Turkish news reports say
300 Kurdish rebel supporters have hurled fire bombs
and stones at a police station in the mainly Kurdish
southern Turkey.
Private Kanal D television and other media said
police in the city of Mersin fired into the air to
disperse the protest Sunday.
No one was injured. The fire bombs caused some
damage to the police station and parked cars.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the
attack. The protest came the week the rebels marked
the 31st anniversary of the founding of the Turkey
Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK,www.ekurd.netwhich
has been fighting for autonomy in the country's
southeast since 1984.
Turkey has recently announced measures to reconcile
with minority Kurds, including removing restrictions
on using the once-banned Kurdish language.
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 Kurdish question cannot be resolved without
recognizing the will of the Kurdish people and
holding dialogue with its interlocutors," the group
said.
The PKK has long called on Ankara to halt military
operations and agree to negotiations for a solution,
which it says should include official recognition of
the country's Kurds in the constitution.
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 government categorically rejects dialogue with a
group it labels a terrorist organization and says it
will not let up on the military campaign against the
rebels. 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.
The European Union, which Turkey wants to join, has
praised Erdogan's efforts to end the conflict. His
so-called democratic initiative aims to expand
cultural and political liberties to address decades
of grievances from Kurds who say they have faced
state-sanctioned discrimination and violence.
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