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PKK chief Murat Karayilan: Ankara, Tehran
ganging up against Kurds
28.6.2008
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June
28, 2008
MOUNT QANDIL, Kurdistan region "Iraq",—
Turkish Kurd rebel chief Murat Karayilan on Saturday
urged Turkey to hold talks with his guerrilla group
rather than forming an anti-Kurdish alliance with
Iran and Syria.
Karayilan, who heads the armed wing of the Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), said that Turkey
would not be "stable or democratic unless it solves
the Kurdish issue."
"We hope that Turkey will stop its aggressive policy
and hold democratic talks in solving problems," he
told AFP in a interview at his hideout in the remote
Qandil mountains of Kurdistan "northern Iraq". |
Murat Karayilan, Kurdish PKK chief |
Turkey has launched
several air and land strikes on PKK positions in
Iraqi Kurdistan region since December. Ankara
maintains more than 2,000 PKK rebels are based
across the border.
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.
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 fighting the Turkish army 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.
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.
Karayilan said Iraqi Kurdistan leaders such as
President Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani, who
heads northern Iraq's Kurdistan administration,
could help solve the crisis given their close ties
to Washington.
"We wish to solve the Kurdish issue in a peaceful
way ... by talks in a democratic atmosphere. Barzani
and Talabani can play a role in this issue and offer
a programme to solve the issue," he said.
"I think their relations with the US are better now
and if they want to play a role,www.ekurd.net
they can do it and can
achieve good results. But we are not seeing attempts
(by them), and policies against Kurdistan are
continuing till now."
Karayilan, whom Ankara says leads the PKK since its
1999 capture of Abdullah Ocalan, accused the Syrian
government of lining up with Iran and Turkey against
the PKK and its affiliate group, Pjak (Party of Free
Life of Kurdistan).
Since
2004 the PJAK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdistan province northwestern of
Iran (Iranian Kurdistan, Eastern Kurdistan). Half the members of PJAK
are women.
"An alliance of Kurds' enemies" has been formed
between Iran, Turkey and Syria, he said.
"The enemies of Kurds are preventing us from forming
Kurdistan in Turkey, Syria and Iran," he said,
referring to the homeland which the rebels want to
carve out from the territories which have sizeable
Kurdish communities.
Karayilan said Iran and Turkey were expected to
launch new attacks against the rebels.
"We are not against the Islamic Republic of Iran. We
didn't announce the war against them. There is an
Iranian Kurdish party called Pjak and this party is
being targeted by Iran, so it is forced to defend
itself," he added.
Pjak believed to be operating from border bases in
Kurdish northeastern Iraq and makes sorties across
the border into Iran. It has been involved in a
series of deadly clashes with Iranian security
forces.
Karayilan also charged that Ankara's new policy was
to assassinate PKK leaders.
"Following its defeat against us in February and
March,www.ekurd.net
Turkey has started to
change its policy and is assassinating and targeting
the leadership of the PKK," he said without naming
any rebels allegedly murdered by Ankara.
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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