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Turkish warplanes bomb Kurdish PKK rebel
hideouts in Iraqi Kurdistan
24.6.2012
By Ekurd.net staff writers |
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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. •
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Turkey's military has
confirmed further air strikes against Kurdish PKK
rebel bases in Iraqi Kurdistan
June 24, 2012
ANKARA, — Turkish warplanes have carried
out strikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in
Kurdistan region in Iraq's north, the army said on
Sunday.
The general staff said on its website the air
strikes had hit "nine targets belonging to the
separatist terrorist organisation" referring to the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), on June
22-24.
The jets safely returned to their bases in Turkey,
it said.
The air strikes are the second since a PKK-rebel
attack on an army post near the Iraqi
Kurdish border on Tuesday killed eight Turkish
soldiers, and wounded another 19. Local officials
said around 20 rebels were killed in the attack.
Kurdish rebels allegedly use northern Iraq as a
spring board for attacks on Turkish targets in their
decades-long fight for autonomy in Turkey's Kurdish
region in southeast aka (northern Kurdistan).
In October 2011, Turkey launched a major air and
land offensive
against the rebels in the southeast of the country
and in neighbouring northern Iraq after 24 of its
troops were killed in a night-time ambush by rebels.
In December 2011, Turkish air strikes
killed 34
Kurdish civilians near the Iraqi Kurdistan border in
an attack which the government said had been a
military blunder,www.ekurd.net
as commanders had mistaken them
for PKK fighters.
The PKK has several times proposed peaceful solutions regarding Kurdish problem,
Turkey has always refused saying that it will not negotiate with “terrorists”.
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 ass 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara and 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 | Reuters | ekurd.net | Agencies
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