Turkey and Kurdish PKK Conflict - VOA Story

Turkey has just hosted an international conference on how best to stabilize Iraq despite being on an increasingly poor footing with its eastern neighbor. Ankara accuses Iraq of sheltering separatist Kurdish rebels and allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks against Turkey and has sent a clear warning it is ready to send its own army into northern Iraq to stop the rebel attacks. This is a report on the underlying causes of the border tensions and what it means for both Turks and Kurds.

Turkey has sent them -- into the hills and mountains of the southeast and along the border with northern Iraq. Its soldiers and armaments are poised to move, across the border whenever Ankara gives the word.

Clashes between the army and the rebels have been on the rise, inside Turkey and along the border, but the conflict goes back decades. More than 30,000 people have been killed since the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, began its fight for Kurdish autonomy in 1984.

Ankara and Washington have declared the PKK a terrorist organization and many in Turkey agree.

But for others, like Azize Yigit, the PKK is simply fighting for the rights of the ethnic Kurdish minority.

Even in Diyarbakir in the heartland of the Turkey's Kurdish region - there are many who support military action; many who do not.

When Turkey celebrated the 84th anniversary of the founding of the Republic, there were parades like this one throughout the country.

Towns were awash in a sea of Turkish flags. Yet, even in places like the small town of Diyarbakir in the southeast, it was the military show of might that received the most applause.

Emotions are mixed and running high on the PKK issue and there has been increasing pressure on the Turkish government to give the military the go ahead to get tough, despite calls for restraint from the United States and Europe.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Turkey
• PKK
• Kurd
• Kurdish
• War
• Military
• Turkish
• Iraq

[AngelsThanatos93]

oh im sry

so when the turkish government have murdered millions of kurds its perfectly fine

but when pkk starts attaking then suddenly THEY are terrorists?

]thats just cowardly, pathetic and also considered fascism

[kurdishleader]

I FUCK URS

[TheKyaksar]

@jia2001 so ????????????

[jia2001]

Turkey are part of the NATO

[MyDavey01]

FRE OCELAN AND KURDISH INDEPENDECI FROM OTOMAN TIRANS TURKS

[0101fuego]

ja waneer turken die ons land hebben gestolen voor niks onze kurden en kids dood maken is niks aan de hand !!!

en waneer pkk trug vecht zijn ze direct terroristen fuck the world and fuck turken en iraniers en syriers

[3choBlast3r]

FINALLY a fair video, most videos make it seem like all Kurds support the PKK. For some reason they refuse to show that the majority of the Kurds is anti PKK.

[3choBlast3r]

@AngelsThanatos93 uuhmm yes .. and where are the "millions" of Kurds we have killed? Where is your proof? Where are your sources? PKK killed more then 40 000 mostly KURDISH innocents ...

All Turkish parties propagate equality and represent TURKISH citizens not racial Turks, even the nationalist party MHP has a huge Kurdish wing. While the PKK ONLY represents a small kurdish minority less then 10% of the Turkish Kurds as does they political wing the DTP.

WHO IS THE FASCIST?now be silent Ellas

[Sarezh998]

@NukeCss We must remove turks, they are from Mongolia = They have small dicks, we don't want that.

[Sarezh998]

@NukeCss No you retard, anymore? Turks are a bunch of cowards, mongols, filthy savages. you think we will forget those dead Kurds? For every dead Kurd, there should be 1 million dead Turk you filthy cunt.

[wiseas]

@NukeCss

so do Turkish ppl

middle easterns in general are bound to have uni brows

its so funny how u try to come up with the most idiotic question as an excuse for getting rid of a race of people

that rly says something about your own intelligence

have some self-respect before making comments like these

i truly pity ppl like u =)

[NukeCss]

@AngelsThanatos93 turks dont kill the innocent (anymore) hehe but kurds only kill innocent... seriously kurds only attack civilians so they are terrorists...