Author: RawandKurdistani » Mon Sep 17, 2012 7:03 pm
Kurdish PKK rebels deny death of 373 of its guerrillas, in response to Turkey's allegation 12.9.2012
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The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds' identity in its constitution and of their language as a native language along with Turkish in the country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and constitution against Kurds, ranting them full political freedoms. Photo: HPG September 12, 2012
QANDIL MOUNTAINS,— The Turkish army announced Monday that 373 Kurdish guerrillas of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in clashes during the past five months and the PKK rebuffed the statement.
The CNN Turkish news station quoted a statement issued by the Turkish General Staff as saying that 373 members of the PKK and 88 soldiers were killed in the past five months.
The PKK denied the news. The party said in a statement published by the pro-PKK Firat ANF news agency, that the clashes over the past five months left behind 1,035 soldiers and 101 PKK fighters dead.
Violence has increased recently in Turkey's Kurdish region in the southeast.
PKK is fighting for the autonomy of the Kurdish parts of Turkey and tens of millions of Kurds in the country.
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 20 million. 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.
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.
Kurdistan, the great land of the Medes.