July 4, 2013
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey's Kurdish region,— Kurdish militants attacked two military outposts in the Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey, Turkish officials said on Thursday, breaking a three-month ceasefire, but they denied militant reports one soldier had been killed.
The militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attacked gendarmerie outposts in two separate districts of Diyarbakir province (Northern Kurdistan) on Wednesday, drawing return fire from security forces, the provincial governor's office said.
It said no one had been killed or wounded in the attacks in Diyarbakir's Dicle and Hani districts.
The PKK earlier issued a statement saying its fighters had killed one Turkish soldier in an attack on a military outpost in Hani, in retaliation for the killing of a Kurdish protester last week.
Last Friday, an 18-year-old Kurdish man was shot dead and nine people were wounded as they came under fire during a protest against the construction of a gendarmerie outpost in Diyarbakir province.
While there have been reports of minor isolated incidents of violence in the past few weeks, Wednesday's attacks appeared to be the most serious violation of a March ceasefire called by PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan as part of a peace process with Ankara.
PKK rebels began withdrawing from Turkish territory to bases in Iraq's Kurdistan region in May as part of a deal between the state and Ocalan,www.ekurd.net imprisoned on an island south of Istanbul since 1999.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, took up arms against the state in 1984 with the aim of carving out a Kurdish state, but subsequently moderated its goal to autonomy.
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 2013 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, its goal to political autonomy. A large Turkey's Kurdish community, numbering to 22.5 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.
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 and 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.
Top PKK commander Murat Karayılan on June 24, 2013 called on the EU to remove the PKK from the list of terrorist organizations.
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Reuters
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 8:28 pm