US-Backed Attempt to Crush Kurds Fa

[kkelly at nyxfer.UUCP]

Subject: US-Backed Attempt to Crush Kurds Fails/WW
From: nyxfer!kkelly (NY Transfer News)


Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit

U.S. PROXY WAR FAILS TO CRUSH KURDISH REVOLUTION

By Bill Doares

U.S.-made F-16 fighters and Cobra helicopters rained death and
destruction on Iraq's Kurdish region Nov. 3 as Turkey's
U.S.-armed and -financed military continued a bloody offensive
against freedom fighters of the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK).

Since the assault began Oct. 5, tens of thousands of Turkish
soldiers have entered northern Iraq, but have so far failed to
dislodge the PKK guerrillas, who are resisting heroically against
tremendous odds.

On Oct. 29, a Turkish commander, Brig. Mete Sayar, told Hurriyet,
Turkey's largest daily, that his forces had "been unable to
capture any of the PKK's positions." Another Turkish officer was
quoted complaining that there were not enough helicopters to
retrieve Turkish casualties.

Fierce fighting is also taking place inside Turkey itself. On
Nov. 1 the Chicago Tribune reported a massacre of Kurds in
southeastern Turkey by the army. On the whole, the U.S. media has
maintained almost complete silence about the war against the
Kurds and Washington's role supporting it.

Turkey's rightwing NATO regime moved greater forces into northern
Iraq in the wake of the PKK's defeat of an offensive by the
pro-U.S., Iraq-based "Kurdistan Front." The Front, essentially a
mercenary coalition patched together by the CIA, had been
attacking the PKK with U.S.-supplied artillery under the
direction of Turkish officers.

In an interview with the Kurdish newspaper Berxwedan, PKK General
Secretary Abdullah Ocalan said, "No, we are not giving up our
arms... The Kurdistan Front are the ones in difficulty, not us.
Their treachery has been exposed for all to see and they have
suffered a serious defeat.

"Our guerrillas have put up a great resistance for nearly a
month. It has been a heroic resistance. We will continue to
develop the war. ...

"Our losses are less than 100, not 400 to 500 as has been
claimed. Both Turkey and the collaborationists have suffered
heavy losses. There is no question of our forces being defeated;
on the contrary a military and political success has been
achieved."

                          -30-

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; "workers" on PeaceNet; on Internet:
"workers at mcimail.com".)
 

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