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PKK says Turkey's Kurdish Shemzinan area
under full control
11.8.2012 |
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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 region [Northern Kurdistan],
the party also demanded an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full political freedoms. Turkey refuses
to recognize its Kurdish population as a distinct minority and still denies the
constitutional existence of Kurds.
A large Turkey's Kurdish community, numbering more
than 20 million, openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels. Photo:
HGP
Kurdish Shemzinan area
liberated from Turkish army and under full control,
PKK Says
August 11, 2012
QANDIL MOUNTAINS, Turkey-Iraqi Kurdistan
frontier,—The People’s Defence Forces, known by
its Kurdish initials as (HPG) -- an armed wing of
the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) -- claim that the
Turkey's Kurdish Shemzinan area is no longer under
Turkey’s control.
Bakhtiyar Dogan, spokesperson of the HPG, said the
group’s guerrillas had besieged Turkish army camps
in the area. “Shemzinan is currently under the
control of our guerrillas. Most of the Turkish army
bases in the area are under siege and no longer
under the control of the Turkish army,” he told
Rudaw.
“Turkish helicopters and fighter jets have been
trying to fly over, but due to HPG’s attacks they
have withdrawn from the area. The Turkish army has
failed to end the besiegement,” Dogan said.
The assault on Turkish military outposts in
Shemzinan began on July 23 and is ongoing, despite
Turkish efforts to put an end to the clashes.
Dogan said, “We are protecting our people and
continuing our struggle against the occupation of
Kurdistan. We will expand the areas of our struggle.
We have adopted expansionist tactics in other cities
of Kurdistan. We will stand against Turkey’s
anti-Kurdish politics.”
According to HPG’s announcements, 200 Turkish
soldiers have been killed since the assault began.
However, the Turkish interior minister claims that
eight Turkish soldiers and 114 guerrillas have been
killed.
In this regard, Dogan says that the HPG informs the
public of the results of its attacks, but that the
Turkish government is conducting a media, as well as
a military, campaign.
“Turkey considers itself the second most powerful
force in NATO,” he said. “Therefore, it does not
want to publish the actual causalities from the
fight … and doubles and triples the casualties of
the HPG to mislead the Turkish public.”
To back up this claim, Dogan notes that HPG
guerillas have seized weapons from 20 killed
soldiers, more than double the number of casualties
the minister reported.
On August 3, Murat Karayilan, the acting head of the
PKK, announced that the group had a new policy. “No
longer is the inside/outside borders terminology
valid. That terminology is history,” he said, noting
that PKK fighters were 35 kilometers deep inside
Turkish borders.
Dogan said, “The Turkish government continues its
policy of eliminating the Kurdish people and
guerrilla forces in 2012. In order to move the
Kurdish problem a step forward, we have started a
new revolutionary assault.”
According to Dogan, HPG guerrillas have targeted
military camps in Celi, Girde, Sere Sewe, Blican and
Qarapash – all in zone 49 -- in the past few days.
The Turkish military has responded by bombarding the
area with F16s,www.ekurd.net
Sikorsky helicopters and mortar rockets.
The goal of the HPG assault, its spokesperson said,
is to end the occupation of Kurdistan. “The Turkish
occupation is eliminating Kurdish people. Therefore,
we have adopted a new policy, which has started with
controlling Shemzinan. We will expand the war. I
believe Kurdish people welcome the HPG’s
revolutionary tactic,” Dogan said.
He added that, besides Shemzinan, HPG guerrillas are
spreading into Dersim, Amed, Sarhad, Botan, Hakkari,
Sirnax and many other cities in Turkish Kurdistan.
“However, the conditions in Shemzinan are
different,” Dogan said. “We have adopted a new
tactic in Shemzinan. For the freedom of Kurdistan,
we have to expand this tactic.”
By Sakar Abdullazada
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