Turkish military chief says could strike heavily at PKK
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 2:50 pmAnd once again the mongols say thier daily propaganda
ISTANBUL,— Turkey's military has the capability to launch a sustained operation against a Kurdish militant base in Iraq and believes that the group's members are also receiving training in Syria and Iran, the head of the armed forces said in a rare interview.
General Necdet Ozel told the Turkiye newspaper that a sustained assault on the main base of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Qandil mountain region of Iraqi Kurdistan was "technically possible" but gave no details on whether such an operation was planned.
Clashes in recent months between Turkey's armed forces and militants from the PKK - considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the United States and European Union - have been among the heaviest since the group took up arms 28 years ago.
Turkey has stepped up air operations on suspected PKK rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan over the past year after an increase in PKK attacks, fuelling tensions between Ankara and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"They are very well protected and frequently change location. We are working to render them ineffective," Ozel said of the PKK's leaders, using a phrase frequently employed by Turkish military officials to describe the killing of militants.
Ankara has linked the surge in PKK violence to the unrest in neighbouring Syria and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has accused Syria's President Bashar al-Assad of arming the PKK militants.
Turkey has raised the possibility of military intervention in Syria if the PKK were to launch attacks from Syrian soil. The military has conducted exercises on the Syrian border in a clear warning to Damascus.
In written answers to questions from the newspaper, the general said that the armed forces were receiving "limited" intelligence support from the United States in its operations.
Ozel said that 110 soldiers and 427 PKK militants had been killed since the start of the year in clashes that have centred on the fragile south-eastern region bordering Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Six Turkish soldiers were among seven people killed in a PKK bomb attack on a military vehicle in Tunceli, the Kurdish region in eastern Turkey (northern Kurdistan), on Tuesday, the latest in a series of guerrilla-style attacks on the armed forces.
The PKK has several times proposed peaceful solutions regarding Kurdish problem, Turkey has always refused saying that it will not negotiate with “terrorists”.
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a Kurdish state in the south east of the country. More than 40,000 people have since been killed.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous region and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who constitute the greatest minority in Turkey, numbering more than 22,5 million according to the latest report by Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
The PKK wants constitutional recognition for the Kurds, regional self-governance and Kurdish-language education in schools.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees, lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish constitution.
The rebels have scaled back their demands for more political autonomy for Turkey's estimated 23 million ethnic Kurds.
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.
ISTANBUL,— Turkey's military has the capability to launch a sustained operation against a Kurdish militant base in Iraq and believes that the group's members are also receiving training in Syria and Iran, the head of the armed forces said in a rare interview.
General Necdet Ozel told the Turkiye newspaper that a sustained assault on the main base of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Qandil mountain region of Iraqi Kurdistan was "technically possible" but gave no details on whether such an operation was planned.
Clashes in recent months between Turkey's armed forces and militants from the PKK - considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the United States and European Union - have been among the heaviest since the group took up arms 28 years ago.
Turkey has stepped up air operations on suspected PKK rebels in Iraqi Kurdistan over the past year after an increase in PKK attacks, fuelling tensions between Ankara and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"They are very well protected and frequently change location. We are working to render them ineffective," Ozel said of the PKK's leaders, using a phrase frequently employed by Turkish military officials to describe the killing of militants.
Ankara has linked the surge in PKK violence to the unrest in neighbouring Syria and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has accused Syria's President Bashar al-Assad of arming the PKK militants.
Turkey has raised the possibility of military intervention in Syria if the PKK were to launch attacks from Syrian soil. The military has conducted exercises on the Syrian border in a clear warning to Damascus.
In written answers to questions from the newspaper, the general said that the armed forces were receiving "limited" intelligence support from the United States in its operations.
Ozel said that 110 soldiers and 427 PKK militants had been killed since the start of the year in clashes that have centred on the fragile south-eastern region bordering Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Six Turkish soldiers were among seven people killed in a PKK bomb attack on a military vehicle in Tunceli, the Kurdish region in eastern Turkey (northern Kurdistan), on Tuesday, the latest in a series of guerrilla-style attacks on the armed forces.
The PKK has several times proposed peaceful solutions regarding Kurdish problem, Turkey has always refused saying that it will not negotiate with “terrorists”.
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a Kurdish state in the south east of the country. More than 40,000 people have since been killed.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous region and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who constitute the greatest minority in Turkey, numbering more than 22,5 million according to the latest report by Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
The PKK wants constitutional recognition for the Kurds, regional self-governance and Kurdish-language education in schools.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees, lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish constitution.
The rebels have scaled back their demands for more political autonomy for Turkey's estimated 23 million ethnic Kurds.
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.
