OOMEN-RUIJTEN, RiaRia Oomen-Ruijten MEP, European Parliament Rapporteur on Turkey, has condemned the recent shocking terrorist attacks in Turkey: “I strongly condemn these attacks and would like to express my sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Turkish military has killed nine Kurdish militants in the country’s Southeast, while another nine have surrendered to the authorities, media reports and officials said Thursday.
The militants, killed in fighting in the provinces of Mardin and Hakkari, included senior members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has led a bloody 25-year struggle in the region, unnamed sources told Anatolia news agency, without specifying when the operations took place. Read the rest of this entry »
Sweden’s Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected Turkey’s extradition request for a citizen it accused of murder and membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
“There are obstacles to the extradition of Cemil Kadir Aygan,” the court said in its ruling.
Aygan, a 51-year-old Turkish citizen, lives in Sweden but is known in Turkey under the name Aziz Turan.
Turkey requested his extradition in August 2008, claiming he was “suspected of a crime against the State’s unity for having killed author Musa Anter and injured Orhan Miroğlu with a firearm on September 20 1992, within the framework of the terrorist organization PKK’s activities,” the court said. Read the rest of this entry »
Five members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were killed in an armed clash with Turkish security forces late on Monday in eastern Bingöl province.
The clashes in a remote region came days after a group of outlawed PKK members surrendered after returning from neighboring Iraq to support Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s reform process. The clash was one of the biggest skirmishes since the government announced the Kurdish initiative in July. Read the rest of this entry »
French police have detained nine members of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, for racketeering to collect money from Kurds living in France, security officials said.
French counter-terror teams have also seized large amounts of cash in the houses of the detained PKK members in the large-scale operation conducted in the cities of Le Luc and Vidauban.
French security authorities have detained 40 PKK members since last June. Read the rest of this entry »
Iraq and Turkey are considering economic and security agreements that would improve the often strained ties between the two neighbours, the foreign ministers of both countries said Tuesday.
Baghdad and Ankara have been on edge, with drought-stricken Iraq accusing Turkey of cutting off water and Turkey accusing Iraq of failing to do enough to stop attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, known as PKK.
Both countries, though, have a vested interest in improving ties because of their shared trade, oil and security concerns.
High on the list of discussions Tuesday in Baghdad between Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and his visiting Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, was tripling trade between the two countries. Read the rest of this entry »
Intent on resolving its ongoing Kurdish problem, Turkey launched a peace initiative last spring that includes measures to disarm the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group listed by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. But does the PKK want peace? The following statements by top PKK leaders provide insight into the group’s intentions, the prospects for peace, and the implications for the United States. Read the rest of this entry »
Reuters
Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who began a visit to Iran on Saturday, said his government would not allow Iraq to be used as a base to threaten its neighbors.
Maliki said Iraq “will not let any terrorist party harm its relations with neighboring governments” and named the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that attacks Turkey from Iraq and PKK offshoot, the outlawed Party of Free Life of Kurdistan. Read the rest of this entry »
Herald Tribune
Turkey will launch its first 24-hour television channel broadcasting in the once-banned Kurdish language next week in an apparent attempt to cut support for Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in the country’s southeast.
Analysts say the state-run news channel is aimed at taking viewers from the Kurdish Roj TV, a satellite station based in Belgium that is popular with many of the country’s estimated 14 million Kurds but has angered Turkey for broadcasting statements by rebel commanders.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984. Read the rest of this entry »
Mike Hancock MP
There is nothing romantic about terrorism, and nothing nice about terrorists. They are evil people who commit evil acts. Although they claim to be fighting for human rights, every time they attack, their attacks take away the human rights of, in some instances, the very people whom they claim to represent. The uselessness of such action must be seen to be believed, and, all of us here should enthusiastically support the prevention of its continuation.
The Iraqi Government has fallen well short of the mark in terms of delivering a response to terrorist-based activities which then spill into another country. That also applies to the Kurdish Regional Government and the Coalition forces. If the authorities are ever to secure law and order in and establish principles of justice for the people, they cannot ignore what is happening on their northern border with Turkey. They cannot allow terrorist camps to be established in the first place, and they certainly cannot allow them to continue in operation. It is not acceptable for them not just to sustain the terrorists themselves, but to allow them to plan and carry out atrocities across the border. Read the rest of this entry »
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