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Barack Obama condemns Kurdish PKK rebel
attack on Turkish troops
19.10.2011
By ekurd.net staff writers |
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October 19, 2011
WASHINGTON, —
U.S. President Barack Obama says the U.S. strongly
condemns what he's calling an "outrageous terrorist
attack" against ally Turkey.
Kurdish rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party or
PKK
killed at least
26 Turkish soldiers and wounded more than a dozen
others in attacks along the border Wednesday. That
prompted a retaliatory attack by Turkish soldiers,
air force bombers and helicopter gunships.
Obama says the U.S. will continue to cooperate with
the Turkish government as it battles the terrorist
threat posed by the PKK rebel group and tries to
bring peace to southeast Turkey.
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U.S. president Barack Obama condemns 'outrageous'
PKK attack in Turkey. |
Obama says the Turkish people, like people
everywhere, deserve to live in peace, security and
dignity. He issued a statement while traveling
Wednesday in Hampton, Va.
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 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.
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:
AP | ekurd.net | Agencies
Copyright © 2011 ekurd.net
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