To AEnigma III,

This is not my opinion.
Turkish Media and Public Union say according to evidences, witnesses, terrorists weapons and confessions...

Then I repeat (yet again) that I have seen (and previously posted) the Turkish governments OWN STATISTICS on the weapons seized from the PKK and that the majority were bought either from Italy via Eastern Europe and from South America. There were as many Turkish weapons seized as there were from US or UK...

I have no any idea about this topics.

DILARA,
You are right when you say people should have knowledge about a subject, before they feel qualified to express opinions on it..

My own experience with Kurds is that most of them are very nice people too.

What you must understand however, is that Republic of Turkey contains many other ethnic groups other than Turks and Kurds...The number probably runs above 20, an no government offers schools to fit the needs of all exinting etnic groups in a country.There is no ban on Kurdish in Turkia: Your nice Kurdish friend however is misleading you . What he should tell you is that the official language of the state, by constitution, is Turkish, and that the state schools offer no education in other ethnic languages (no Kurdish, no Lezgi, no Greek, no Armenian...etc). But talking your own language within your family, friends, printing your paper in your language, making music in your language etc. is free.

The same rule applies when citizens have to deal with the state, say in courts..trials are held in Turkish, but state provides citizens who can not express themselves in Turkish, free translators. After 85 year into this new republic, I think Kurds are the only ethnic groups who still needs this assistance. (founders of the republic had peacemeal remnants of an Empire in thir hands (as people), they figured a common official language between all (Turkish because Turks had the largest numbers) would be a better tie, than 26 different private languages...towards forming one united nation)

It is also free for members of all different etnic groups to set up their own schools under government control and help their youngsters learn their mother tongue and inherit their own etnic culture. Some etnic groups like Greeks and Armenians have schools of their own, if they chose to attend. Kurds have also started their own TV brodcasts and language schools, but are now closing them down because there is no popular demand for such institutions; they are commercially unfeasible.

Turkey has no problems with other etnic groups (citizens) in Turkey, least of all the Kurds. No average Turk is dumb enough to wish condemn any Kurds to miserable lives.(you must realize most of the Kurds are moslems, and there has been extensive intermarriage for years betwwen Kurds and Turks: almost any Turk has a Kurdish relative by marriage or vica versa. How can a Turk normally discriminate Kurds, if he has two Kurdish duughter-in-laws and a dozen half breed grandsons? ..or vica versa. Ok there may be some old laws that has to be changed or improved, but even the hottest Kurdish fanatic can not deny that state is genuinly working towards more democracy, human rights, better distribution of wealth etc...not only for Kurds but for all citizens.

Democracy is freedom, yes.

But if and when some members of this emerging democracy decide to use the freedom of democracy to separate a part of the common motherland and rule it independently, or fancy taking up a part of the motherland and sharing it with ethnic brothers of a different country....democracy has the right to defend herself, she is not helpless...

You now have a different opinion on the issue...Pls check the correctness of my slightly too long statement with your nice friend...see where he disagrees, ok?

Dont treat ALL TC members the same way!! Not all of us come here just to learn about "frivolous" things or Turkish Resorts , many of us are TRULY interested in Turkey and all it represents ! Please be more RESPECTFUL and avoid generalizations!! - This goes to the ones who said that most members here are not interested in this kind of affairs!-
Thank you!!!!!
Dilara.

To AEnigma III friend,

US tries to stop Turk incursion in Iraq

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The United States has opened a "diplomatic full court press" to keep Turkey from invading northern Iraq, an incursion that could further destabilize Iraq and the region.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials implored Turkish and Iraqi leaders to work together to counter the threat from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the State Department said on Monday as Turkish troops headed toward the border.
Tensions soared after a weekend ambush by rebel Kurds killed 12 Turkish soldiers and left eight missing. Word from Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's office that the PKK would announce a cease-fire was met in Washington with little enthusiasm. Officials cautioned that a temporary truce would not resolve Turkey's long-standing concerns about

By VOLKAN SARISAKAL and CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writers
42 minutes ago

SIRNAK, Turkey - Dozens of Turkish military vehicles streamed toward the Iraqi border with heavy artillery and ammunition Monday after Kurdish guerrillas killed a dozen soldiers and claimed to have captured eight in an intensifying crisis threatening to spill into Iraq.

Arab nations joined the U.S. and Europe in urging Turkey's government not to attack suspected guerrilla bases in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, while Turkish citizens rallied across the country demanding action against the rebels.

Iraq's president claimed the guerrillas would announce a cease-fire. But the rebels denied that, saying a cease-fire they declared in June was still in place.

With tensions worsening, the Turkish foreign minister said his government was pursuing a diplomatic solution to halt rebel operations out of havens in Iraq, but warned that it wanted to see results soon if an escalation in military action was to be avoided.

An AP Television News cameraman saw a convoy of 50 Turkish army vehicles, loaded with soldiers and weapons, including 155-mm howitzers, heading from the southeastern town of Sirnak toward Uludere, closer to the border.

Trucks towing artillery pieces covered with camouflage tarpaulins were trailed by khaki-colored trucks that appeared to be loaded with ammunition. Armored personnel carriers with helmeted Turkish soldiers manning heavy machine guns escorted the trucks.

It was unclear if the vehicles were joining troops fighting with rebels on Turkish soil or were preparing for a possible cross-border offensive, which was authorized by Turkey's parliament last week.

At least five U.S.-made transport helicopters ferrying soldiers and Cobra helicopter gunships also were seen flying toward the frontier.

The Pentagon has said 60,000 Turkish soldiers have deployed along the border. The north is one of the few relatively calm Iraqi regions, and the U.S. fears an incursion by its ally Turkey could worsen the Iraq war.

After weeks of stepped-up clashes between Turkish troops and rebels, tensions racheted even higher after a guerrilla ambush Sunday killed 12 soldiers and left eight missing. The army said 34 rebels died in a counterattack.

The rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party said its fighters captured the missing soldiers — a claim that would make it the largest seizure since 1995, when guerrillas grabbed eight soldiers, took them to northern Iraq and held them for two years before letting them go.

"Right now, these soldiers are hostages in the hands of our forces," a senior PKK commander, Bahoz Erdal, was quoted as telling the pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency in Belgium. "Their health condition is good. One of them was slightly injured, but was being taken care of by our medics."

The claim was sure to intensify the army's search for the soldiers.

Protesters waving the red and white Turkish flag demonstrated in cities nationwide to demand a tough response to the weekend ambush.

"Martyrs never die! The nation will never be divided!" demonstrators shouted in Ankara, the capital. "Martyr" is a term used by Turks for soldiers killed in combat.

Others chanted "Down with the PKK and USA!" Many Turks are angry at Washington over what they consider the failure of U.S. and Iraqi forces to honor pledges to crack down on the group, which is listed by the U.S. as a terrorist movement.

Iraqi Kurds allied with Turkish forces in the 1990s to fight the PKK, a rival in their northern enclave at a time when Saddam Hussein ruled the rest of Iraq. But Iraqi Kurds are now reluctant to attack their ethnic brethren from Turkey, fearing the Turks want to curb Kurdish aspirations for self-rule.

The government said it would pursue diplomacy before it sends troops across the rugged frontier.

"Our preference is diplomacy, but the military option is no doubt a method in the struggle against terrorism," Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said after touring the Middle East to explain Turkey's position.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said the PKK would make a cease-fire announcement Monday, but rebels later said they already had announced a unilateral cease-fire in June.

"We're stating clearly that if the Turkish state stops its attacks, then increased tensions will be replaced with a combat-free environment," a rebel statement said.

Turkey has rejected truces declared by the PKK, demanding that the rebels surrender or be killed. The rebels have pressed ahead with attacks on the grounds they are defending themselves against the army.

In Washington, the State Department said the United States had opened a diplomatic campaign to persuade Turkey not to invade northern Iraq. "In our view, there are better ways to deal with this issue," spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by telephone Sunday night that Turkey expected "speedy steps from the U.S." in quelling the PKK. He said Rice asked "for a few days."

McCormack did not dispute the account of the conversation but declined to comment on what Rice meant by asking for "a few days."

Erdogan did not specify what he meant by "speedy steps," but he has often urged the United States and Iraq to crack down on the PKK. Turkish leaders say it is the responsibility of those countries to do whatever is necessary to destroy guerrilla bases in northern Iraq.

Steven Cook, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, noted previous Turkish incursions into northern Iraq had not destroyed the PKK, which has waged an insurgency in Kurdish-dominated southeastern Turkey that has killed some 30,000 people since 1984.

"The PKK is trying to draw the Turks into Iraq to keep them bogged down there," Cook said, saying the rebels hoped prolonged military action in Iraq would destabilize Turkey.

Egypt and Jordan cautioned Turkey on Monday against launching an offensive into Iraq, a reflection of Arab countries' fears of widening the Iraq conflict.

Arab nations traditionally oppose any foreign incursion into a fellow Arab state, and they fear a Turkish attack could fuel separatist sentiment among Iraqi Kurds and increase the danger of Iraq's breakup. But they also have ties with predominantly Muslim Turkey and oppose Kurdish separatist movements.

"I hope that both sides, Turkey and Iraq, will sit together to find a solution to the Kurdish problem," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said. In Jordan, government spokesman Nasser Judeh said: "We're concerned about Iraq's security, unity and integrity."

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