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Turkish warplanes bomb Kurdish PKK rebel
bases in Iraqi Kurdistan
19.10.2011 |
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October 19, 2011
ANKARA, —
Turkish planes on Wednesday bombed Kurdish rebel
bases in Kurdistan region in Iraq's north in
retaliation for
attacks that
killed 26 Turkish soldiers, security sources said.
The air raids targeted Qandil region, the main rear
base of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, the sources
said.
About 2,000 PKK rebels are holed up in northern Iraq
where they infiltrate Turkish soil to launch
attacks, according to Ankara.
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A few hundred Turkish soldiers crossed into Iraqi
Kurdistan region to hunt down PKK rebels who killed
24 soldiers,www.ekurd.net
Kurdish news agency Firatnews said.
Turkish air forces have bombed rebel bases in Iraqi
Kurdistan several times in recent months, killing
nearly 100 rebels, according to the Turkish general
staff.
Since August 17, Turkish jets repeatedly carried out
air strikes against the PKK separatist
group's bases in
Iraqi Kurdistan region,
under justification of chasing elements of the
anti-Ankara PKK, forcing large numbers of Kurdish
citizens of those areas to desert their home
villages, including an air raid that
killed 7
Kurdish civilians in a village north
of Kurdistan’s Sulaimaniyah city on August 21st.
The Turkish parliament earlier this month renewed
its mandate for the government to conduct ground
incursions into Iraq.
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been
fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the
constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a
Kurdish state in the south east of the country, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000
lives.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous
Kurdish region
and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who
constitute the greatest minority in Turkey,
numbering more than 20 million. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees,
lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the
way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within
Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader
Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against
the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish
constitution.
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 as '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.
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author or news agency,
AFP | ekurd.net | Agencies
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