December 3, 2009
ANKARA, — The Interior Ministry is preparing
to send a team of six people to the Makhmour refugee
camp in Kurdistan region in Iraq's north in December
to establish the exact number of individuals
residing there, according to stories that appeared
in the Turkish press yesterday.
This is an important part of the government’s
Kurdish initiative, which seeks to give Kurds more
cultural rights to eliminate separatist.
One of the main goals of the government’s Kurdish
initiative -- announced this summer -- is to make
the return of all Turkey Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
rebels to Turkey possible,www.ekurd.netespecially
those in northern Iraq. Most of the nearly 10,000
inhabitants of the Makhmour refugee camp left Turkey
in 1994, but some were born in the camp. Ankara
claims the Makhmour camp serves as a safe haven for
the PKK, though the camp is under UN supervision.
According to the press, an expert from the Census
and Citizenship Affairs General Directorate will be
on the team to renew the census records of those in
the camp. Meanwhile, individuals born in the camp
will be registered as Turkish citizens as part of
the government’s “back home” program.
Following the return of the Interior Ministry’s
group, the ministry will prepare a list of the
families and individuals who will be returning to
Turkey, to prepare the technical infrastructure for
their return. Two delegations from the US and the
Iraqi administration will be accompanying the
Turkish team during its work in Makhmour. Syrian and
Iranian PKK members in this camp will also be
provided the means to return to their countries.
Meanwhile, officials that are part of a three-way
command mechanism between Turkey, the US and Iraq
have conducted a return poll in the camp after a
request from Turkey. The results of this poll are to
be delivered to Turkey soon. Meanwhile, the parties
have been discussing moving PKK militants in
northern Iraq to the camp as new residents once the
current population there is evacuated.
Under the democratic initiative, PKK members who
have not engaged in acts of violence will not be
arrested when they turn themselves in. Such PKK
members will be placed in a three-month-long
rehabilitation program. Those who show remorse for
joining the PKK will be able to benefit from Article
221 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), called the
Active Repentance Law.
In October, the PKK turned over eight of its members
to Turkish authorities at the Habur border gate, a
groundbreaking move that may lead to the laying down
of arms by the PKK, strengthening the hand of the
government in its recently launched democratization
package to end the country’s decades-old Kurdish
problem. Twenty-six individuals from Makhmour also
returned with the group, bringing the total of
October returnees to 34.
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.
It has gone from seeking full independence for the
Kurdish region to calling for regional autonomy and
better cultural rights for Kurds.
Ankara has recently announced measures aimed at
improving Kurdish rights in the hope of undermining
support for the party.
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