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25 Kurdish PKK rebels killed in Turkish
air strike in Iraqi Kurdistan
24.10.2008
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October
24, 2008
ANKARA,
Turkey, — Twenty-five Kurdish PKK-rebels were killed
and a number were wounded in a Turkish air strike
last week targeting Turkey's Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) hideouts in Kurdistan region "northern
Iraq", an army spokesman said Friday.
The army received "corroborating reports from
various intelligence sources that 25 terrorists were
neutralised in the October 17 air raid," General
Metin Gurak,www.ekurd.net
the head of the general
staff's press department, told a news conference
here.
Many rebels were also wounded in the strike
targeting the mountainous region of Qandil, a major
PKK stronghold near the border between
Iraqi-Kurdistan and Turkey, added Gurak, who offered
no estimates on the number of wounded.
A news agency close to the rebels had claimed at the
time that four militants -- members of an Iranian
Kurdish separatist PJAK organisation linked to the
PKK -- had been killed in the raid.
A further 17 PKK rebels were killed in security
operations inside Turkey in the past week, Gurak
said.
Violence in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast has
escalated after an October 3 PKK attack on a Turkish
military outpost on the Iraqi Kurdistan border which
killed 17 Turkish soldiers.
Since then, Turkish planes have launched several
attacks on rebel bases in Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Earlier this month,www.ekurd.net
Turkey's parliament also
extended by one year the government's mandate to
order cross-border military strikes against the PKK
in northern Iraq, which has been in effect since
October 17, 2007.
Last week, Kurds demonstrating in
support of jailed PKK-rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan
clashed with Turkish police in Istanbul and other
Turkish cities following allegations of his
mistreatment in prison.
Dozens of people were detained in two cities in the
largely Kurdish southeastern region of Turkey
(Turkey Kurdistan). |
Turkish warplanes bombed the bases of the Turkey's
separatist Kurdish PKK rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan
region, 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.
A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise
with the Kurdish PKK rebels. |
In Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region, more
than 5,000 slogan-chanting demonstrators protested.
Police did not initially react but charged when they
were attacked with stones. Several dozen people were
detained.
One Kurdish
protestor was killed
Monday during a rally organized by the DTP after
clashes erupted between Turkish police protestors in
the Dogubeyazit district of Agri province.
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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