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Turkish leaders discuss fresh measures
against Kurdish PKK rebels
9.10.2008
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October
9, 2008
ANKARA, — Turkey's civilian and military
leadership convened Thursday to discuss fresh
measures against Turkey's separatist Kurdish PKK
rebels after two brazen attacks on the security
forces claimed 22 lives in a week.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired the
meeting,www.ekurd.net
attended by his
ministers of the interior, defence and foreign
affairs as well as the chief of general staff, the
land forces commander, the police chief and the head
of the intelligence agency.
The meeting comes in the wake of a daytime assault
on a military outpost at the Iraqi border last
Friday, in which Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
militants crossing from camps in Kurdistan "northern
Iraq" killed 17 soldiers under cover of heavy
weapons fire from the other side of the border.
It was followed Wednesday by an
attack on a Turkish police bus
in Diyarbakir, the main city of the Kurdish-majority
southeast, which claimed five lives.
The bus came under machine-gun fire just as
parliament in Ankara extended by one year the
government's mandate to order cross-border military
operations in northern Iraq against the PKK,www.ekurd.net
which has long enjoyed
safe haven in the region.
The agenda of Thursday's meeting was expected to
include requests by the security forces for several
legal amendments to strengthen their hand in the
struggle against the PKK, listed as a terrorist
group by Turkey and much of the international
community.
The army and the police have often complained that
some reforms limiting their powers,www.ekurd.net
passed in recent years
as part of Turkey's efforts to align with European
Union norms, have hampered efforts against crime.
The foreign ministry Thursday sought to allay
concerns that the changes demanded by the security
forces would amount to backpedalling from EU
democracy norms.
"The measures to be taken will make no concession
neither on our security nor freedoms. There is
nothing to worry about," ministry spokesman Burak
Ozugergin told reporters.
The opposition has also called for a tougher stance
against the autonomous Kurdish administration of
northern Iraq, which Ankara accuses of tolerating
the PKK on its territory and even aiding the rebels.
The government is also under pressure to outline a
new strategy of economic and social development for
the southeast, Turkey's poorest region, to erode
popular support for separatism.
The Turkish army has carried out a series of air
raids and a week-long ground incursion against PKK
camps in Kurdistan region "northern Iraq" since the
government obtained its first one-year mandate on
October 17, 2007.
Turkish forces have killed 640 PKK militants this
year, about 400 of them in cross-border operations
in northern Iraq, according to army figures.
Turkey has never, and still does not, recognize the
Kurdistan region government (KRG) and refuses to
meet with its representatives in any official
capacity. That reflects Ankara's fear that any
international respect shown to the autonomous Iraqi
Kurdistan region would only embolden Turkey's own
large Kurdish minority to seek similar home-rule
status.
Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional
government that holds sway in northern Iraq,
regretted Ankara's refusal to hold direct talks on
the crisis over the Turkey's separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.
In earlier statement by Iraqi Kurdistan forces chief
Brig. Gen. Jabbar Yawar, an undersecretary for the
ministry governing Kurdistan protection forces known
as Peshmerga, said "Turkey wants imaginary and
impossible demands. They want us to kill all PKK for
them while they themselves cannot do that," he said.
Iraqi Kurds says previously we saw the Turkish army
invading the region under the pretext of chasing the
PKK and this army did nothing.
Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey (Turkey-Kurdistan). 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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