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Blast hits Iran-Turkey pipeline, Kurd PKK
rebels blamed
25.8.2010 |
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August
25, 2010
ANKARA, — A
blast blamed on separatist Kurdish rebels hit a
pipeline carrying natural gas from Iran to Turkey
overnight, forcing the shutdown of the conduit,
officials said Wednesday.
The explosion in the eastern Kurdish province of
Agri occurred as a result of "an attack by the
separatist terrorist organisation," Governor Ali
Yerlikaya said in a statement carried by the
Anatolia news agency, referring to the outlawed
Turkey Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Last month, the rebels were held responsible for
blowing up another section of the pipeline in the
same province, which borders Iran.
An official from Turkey's state gas and oil company
BOTAS told AFP Wednesday that the blaze at the
pipeline had been extinguished and repair work was
already under way.
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File photo |
She ruled out a supply
shortage. Turkey imports natural gas also via
pipelines from Russia and Azerbaijan.
The authorities have also blamed the PKK for two
bomb attacks that hit a pipeline carrying oil from
Iraq in the past two months.
The PKK, fighting for autonomy in the
Kurdish-majority southeast, said on August 13 it was
declaring a truce until September 20, a period that
covers the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and a
September 12 referendum on constitutional changes.
Ankara has dismissed similar truces in the past and
continued to fight the rebels.
Since 1984 the PKK [Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan] 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.
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.
A large Turkey's Kurdish community estimate to 25
million openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK
rebels.
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 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.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, AFP | Agencies
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