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Kurdish TAK group claims responsibility
for Ankara car bomb attack
22.9.2011
Report by ekurd.net |
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Radical Kurd Group Says Ankara Attack 'Only a
Beginning', and warned of "war everywhere"
September
22, 2011
ANKARA, — A radical Kurdish group claimed
responsibility Thursday for a bomb attack which
killed three people in the centre of the Turkish
capital Ankara and threatened more.
In an email sent to the pro-Kurdish Firat news
agency, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) said it
carried out Tuesday's attack and warned: "It is only
a beginning."
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TAK (Teyrênbazên
Azadîya
Kurdistan) The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons |
The group threatened to
spread violence to urban areas, after a wave of
deadly rebel attacks on army and police units in the
southeast.
"Everywhere is a target," it said.
The TAK statement also pointed out that "in our war
against the fascist AKP government we consider every
place to be a legitimate target and in particular
war will hit the metropolis". Firra News reported.
The bomb, which
went off
outside the administration offices of the capital,
also injured at least 15 people.
TAK (Teyrênbazên Azadîya Kurdistan) is a shadowy
group that upholds jailed Kurdish rebel leader
Abdullah Ocalan as its "chairman" but says it is not
linked to his Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which
has led a bloody 26-year campaign for self-rule in
the Kurdish-majority southeast.
It's not entirely clear who the TAK are. Some observers believe it's little more than a front
for the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), the Kurdish separatist group that fought
the Turkish army for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey [Turkey-Kurdistan].
But others say there is strong evidence it is a splinter group led by commanders
who have split from the PKK because of dissatisfaction with its tactics, along
the lines of the Real IRA and the IRA.
The Falcons first appeared in 2004 - the same year the PKK renounced a
unilateral ceasefire. The direct targeting of tourists would be a change in
recent tactics for the PKK. Even in its heyday, much of the PKK's efforts were
directed against the Turkish military - although there were attacks on
civilians, including tourists.
Today the PKK is a shadow of its former self. The guerrilla army which fought
for control of Kurdish cities in south-eastern Turkey during the Nineties
is largely gone, defeated by a combination of brutal tactics by the Turkish
army,www.ekurd.netand a dramatic coup when Turkey captured its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in
1999, and paraded him before television cameras in chains.
After Ocalan called for a peaceful solution from the dock, during his trial by
Turkey, the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire. But it ended the ceasefire in
2004. Since then, the PKK has resumed fighting, mostly against the Turkish
military. In the meantime, the Falcons have emerged with a series of attacks on
civilians.
The PKK has said TAK is a splinter group outside its
control.
In a statement carried by a website that has
contacts with the PKK, the group
denied any responsibility for a car
bomb in Ankara on Tuesday.
In June 2010, TAK claimed
responsibility for a roadside bomb that hit a bus
carrying Turkish army personnel in
Istanbul in June, killing five Turkish
soldiers and a teenage girl.
In November 2010, TAK claimed
responsibility for a suicide
bomb attack in
Istanbul, Taksim Square, targeting Turkish police
that wounded 32 people, 15 Turkish police officers
and 17 civilians.
In February 2006, six people were wounded, one
seriously, after a bomb exploded at a supermarket in
Istanbul. The TAK claimed responsibility for the
blast and pledged more attacks.
In August 2006, three people were killed and 87 injured in a blast in Antalya, southern
Turkey. The TAK claimed responsibility.
Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southeastern
Turkey have recently escalated their attacks on
Turkish targets.
Three Turkish security officials were killed in two
separate attacks in east and southeast Turkey, on
Wednesday and Thursday.
The successive assaults come days after Turkey's
government threatened to launch a ground assault on
PKK camps across the border in northern 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.
Sources: AFP | AP | ekurd.net | firatnews.com |
Agencies
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