South Kurdish civilians killed in Turkish air strikes on PKK

[RawandKurdistani]

ERBIL-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

[RawandKurdistani]

May PKK kill a thousand terrorist turks.

[purearch72]

Read this but was too sad to post it on roj bash.

[FeyliKurd]

I understand that the KRG does business with the Turks, it is politics and Barzani just doing what he thinks is best for the KRG.

But he can not let the Turks humiliate the Kurdish people like this! He represents the Kurdish people in SK and therefore it is also his duty to protect his people!

[Fire]

If Baghdad oppose it, why doesn't Barzani?

Because he is a ****** of Turkey.

Admin Edit :
User been warned for using dirty words.

[RawandKurdistani]

If Baghdad oppose it, why doesn't Barzani?

I guess we need the mongols more than Bagdad does.

[RawandKurdistani]

I also posted this on US message board, let's see how the mongols and their supporters will react.

[Qonyeyi]

Rehma xwede li wan be. Mala dijmina nekewe!

In Turkish media they called it '' Special units operation''. But then again, Turkish military are specialists at killing civilians... So we cant even call it propaganda.

[purearch72]

I also posted this on US message board, let's see how the mongols and their supporters will react.

Should post it on skyscrapercity city have a hard time posting on my phone.

[Anthea]

Question: What is the name given to a person or group of people who bomb and kill innocent people
Answer: TERRORISTS

Question: Can you define the word terrorist
Answer: A person who terrorizes or frightens others

Question: Has the Turkish army and/or police ever frightened, tortured or killed innocent people
Answer: YES

[burnsss]

I also posted this on US message board, let's see how the mongols and their supporters will react.

Should post it on skyscrapercity city have a hard time posting on my phone.

No need to, we will have yet more trolls here

If Baghdad oppose it, why doesn't Barzani?

Because he is a cocksucker of Turkey.

is that your brain cells working hard? You should write something constructive instead of resorting to insults. Im not a leader worshipper, but its unfair to call economic relation with neighbour even if they hate kurds for cocksucking. with your logic we should isolate kRG from iran Turkey and Iraq but that will not work. Remember kurds from all kurdistan benefit from KRG succes, and guess who our neighbours are? Yes other kurds!! who will soon be freed from the chauvinist regimes. These borders separates kurds and the chauvinist calls us seperatist, how ironic doesnt that sound?

[kurdistanis1]

and this will be ignored by the KRG just like all the other times innocent people were murdered by the Turks, may they rest in peace.

[alan131210]

What can I say, Turks are inhumans and our leader a chicken.

[Anthea]

@ burnsss

You wrote "These borders separates kurds and the chauvinist calls us seperatist, how ironic doesnt that sound?"

BEST statement of the MONTH thank you VERY MUCH

[alan131210]

Kurdistani list from Baghdad "yesterday's attack is an act of hostility and turkey should respond to kurdish demands peacefully not via bombs and jets"

http://www.awene.com/article/2012/11/08/16138