South Kurdish civilians killed in Turkish air strikes on PKK
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 8:58 pmERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',— Two southern Kurdish civilians were killed and three wounded in a Turkish air strike in Iraqi Kurdistan region during the latest operation targeting Kurdish PKK separatist rebels sheltering there, a Kurdistan official said on Wednesday.
The strike on Tuesday hit a village near Rania, close to the remote mountains of Kurdistan in northern Iraq where rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have been based in their 28-year-old guerrilla war against Turkish forces.
"Two civilians were killed and three more wounded in a village in Rania by a Turkish air strike," said Jabbar Yawar, secretary general for Kurdistan's Peshmerga military forces.
The past few months have seen some of the heaviest fighting between Turkish forces and the PKK since the militants took up arms in 1984. Turkish fighter jets and attack helicopters have bombarded the rebels on both sides of the Iraqi border.
Turkish ground forces carried out a two-day cross-border operation targeting Kurdish militants in northern Iraq on November 5-6, Turkish media reported on Wednesday.
Turkey's military, which rarely talks to the media, could not immediately be reached to confirm the reports. But the Peshmerga's Yawar denied any Turkish forces had crossed the Iraqi border.
Broadcaster NTV said Turkish commandos had gone up to 5 km (3 miles) into Iraq to target camps belonging to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants. It said the offensive,www.ekurd.net which followed a Turkish air operation in the area, was finished.
Turkey's parliament last month extended by a year a mandate allowing the government to send troops into northern Iraq in pursuit of PKK fighters, despite objections from Baghdad.
The mandate was first passed in 2007 and has been extended every year since, permitting the army to enter Iraq to strike the PKK, which is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.
Turkey most recently sent ground forces into Iraq in 2008 and has an estimated 1,000 troops based there under an agreement with Iraq dating from the 1990s.
Relations between Turkey and Iraq have cooled sharply in recent months over mutual charges of sectarianism, and Baghdad last month asked Turkey to stop attacking the PKK on its territory.
Turkey's parliament last month also authorised the government to send troops into Syria, Turkey's southern neighbour, in response to shelling by President Bashar al-Assad's forces of Turkish territory that had killed civilians.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal critic of Assad's crackdown on a popular uprising, has accused Syria's government of backing the PKK in its recent escalation of attacks.
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. By 2012, more than 45,000 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. A large Turkey's Kurdish community, numbering to 23 million, openly sympathise with 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 the 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.
The PKK is considered as 'terrorist' organization by Ankara, U.S., also 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.
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Reuters | Ekurd.net | Agencies
The strike on Tuesday hit a village near Rania, close to the remote mountains of Kurdistan in northern Iraq where rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have been based in their 28-year-old guerrilla war against Turkish forces.
"Two civilians were killed and three more wounded in a village in Rania by a Turkish air strike," said Jabbar Yawar, secretary general for Kurdistan's Peshmerga military forces.
The past few months have seen some of the heaviest fighting between Turkish forces and the PKK since the militants took up arms in 1984. Turkish fighter jets and attack helicopters have bombarded the rebels on both sides of the Iraqi border.
Turkish ground forces carried out a two-day cross-border operation targeting Kurdish militants in northern Iraq on November 5-6, Turkish media reported on Wednesday.
Turkey's military, which rarely talks to the media, could not immediately be reached to confirm the reports. But the Peshmerga's Yawar denied any Turkish forces had crossed the Iraqi border.
Broadcaster NTV said Turkish commandos had gone up to 5 km (3 miles) into Iraq to target camps belonging to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants. It said the offensive,www.ekurd.net which followed a Turkish air operation in the area, was finished.
Turkey's parliament last month extended by a year a mandate allowing the government to send troops into northern Iraq in pursuit of PKK fighters, despite objections from Baghdad.
The mandate was first passed in 2007 and has been extended every year since, permitting the army to enter Iraq to strike the PKK, which is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.
Turkey most recently sent ground forces into Iraq in 2008 and has an estimated 1,000 troops based there under an agreement with Iraq dating from the 1990s.
Relations between Turkey and Iraq have cooled sharply in recent months over mutual charges of sectarianism, and Baghdad last month asked Turkey to stop attacking the PKK on its territory.
Turkey's parliament last month also authorised the government to send troops into Syria, Turkey's southern neighbour, in response to shelling by President Bashar al-Assad's forces of Turkish territory that had killed civilians.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal critic of Assad's crackdown on a popular uprising, has accused Syria's government of backing the PKK in its recent escalation of attacks.
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. By 2012, more than 45,000 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. A large Turkey's Kurdish community, numbering to 23 million, openly sympathise with 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 the 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.
The PKK is considered as 'terrorist' organization by Ankara, U.S., also 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.
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Reuters | Ekurd.net | Agencies
