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Turkish PM holds ministers meeting on PKK
rebel attacks
6.10.2008
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October 6, 2008
ANKARA, — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan was to meet with his ministers Monday after
a deadly rebel attack against Turkish soldiers and
weekend reprisals that the army said killed nearly
two dozen insurgents.
Some 23 members of the Turkey's rebel Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in a Turkish air
strike against the group's bases in Kurdistan region
of "northern Iraq" Saturday,www.ekurd.net
the army said, amounting
what would be the deadliest such attack in recent
years.
Turkish special forces have been dispatched to the
border region with Iraqi Kurdistan to prevent rebel
infiltration, local media reported.
Meanwhile, the PKK claimed in a statement Monday it
had the bodies of two of the more than dozen
soldiers killed in its own raid on a border outpost
in southeastern Turkey.
Both sides have offered conflicting reports of the
casualties sustained in Friday's rebel attack. |
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan |
The Turkish military has
said at least 15 soldiers were killed and two more
were missing in strikes by the PKK who snuck from
their Iraqi bases.
But in a statement carried by an agency close to the
rebels,www.ekurd.net
the PKK claimed it had
killed 62 Turkish soldiers and wounded more than 30
others in the clashes. It put its own losses at nine
rebels.
On Sunday, Erdogan launched a fresh appeal to Iraqi
Kurds to clamp down on PKK bases on their territory.
"We're awaiting positive acts on the ground," he
said.
The clashes take place just days before the Turkish
parliament votes on extending by one year the
government's mandate to order military strikes
against PKK bases in Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish
PKK rebels.
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.
The PKK is considered a '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.
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.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, AFP | Agencies
** Kurds are not recognized as an official minority
in Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in Big
Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to 25 million ethnic Kurds, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise
with the Kurdish PKK for a Kurdish homeland in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media. The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet has led
to judicial persecution in 2000 and 2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia.
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