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Turkish forces reportedly kill 15 Kurdish
PKK rebels: officials
19.10.2011
By ekurd.net staff writers |
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October 19, 2011
DIYARBAKIR, The Kurdish
region of Turkey, — Turkish troops killed 15 Kurdish
militants in clashes in southeast Turkey near the
Iraqi Kurdistan border on Wednesday after attacks by
the rebels which
killed 26
soldiers, Turkish security officials in the Kurdish
region told Reuters.
At least 100 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants
were believed to have taken part in the attacks,
which targeted seven locations, security sources
said.
Ankara launched a response to the attacks on the
ground and in the air. Several hundred Turkish
soldiers have crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan region to
hunt down PKK rebels,www.ekurd.net
Kurdish news agency Firatnews said.
"Turkish soldiers from two separate points in
Cukurca
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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. |
town crossed into south Kurdistan to follow
(rebels)," said Firat news agency, which is known as
a mouthpiece of the PKK.
"Turkish ground forces are attempting to cross the
Iraqi border at Jeli, in the Hakkari region" of
southeast Turkey, Dozdar Hammo, a PKK spokesman,
told AFP.
Turkish air force planes also bombed Kurdish rebel
bases in Iraqi Kurdistan in retaliation for the
attacks, security sources said. The air raids
targeted Qandil region, the main rear base of the
PKK, they added.
Clashes between the PKK and the army have escalated
since summer.
Turkey was
shelling
northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on
Tuesday, a Kurdish rebel spokesman said, in the
first report of Turkish bombardment in the area in
more than two weeks.
Since August 17, Turkish jets repeatedly carried out
air strikes against the Kurdish 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.
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.
Sources: Reuters |
AFP | ekurd.net | ANF | Agencies
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