TURKEY: Security troops launch oute

[PeaceNet Middle East Team]

From: <pnmideast>
Subject: TURKEY: Security troops launch oute

/* Written 12:15 am  Sep  5, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "TURKEY: Security troops launch oute" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: TURKEY: Security troops launch outer border attack on PKK


cizre, turkey, sep 2 (ips/nadire mater) -- the anticipated outer
border northern iraq crackdown on the kurdish guerrilla group pkk,
has begun, although turkish authorities are not confirming the
reports.

sources say that turkish troops crossed the southern border early
wednesday, entering the deshtan region near amadiya -- ten km into
iraqi territory.

prior to that, there were also reports of heavy artillery fire
around the same region, and there was also increased turkish
military activity near the iran-turkey border, the sources said.

ever since the reported clashes between the kurdistan workers
party (pkk) guerrillas and the turkish security forces in south-
eastern turkey two weeks ago, the authorities have made no secret
that they would go after the rebel group which has been
consolidating its position in the hilly terrain of northern iraq.

the south-eastern kurdish town of sirnak was left in a state of
ruin following near weeklong clashes starting aug. 18, in which 17
civilians and four soldiers were killed. the casualty count of the
guerrilla group, which up to now denies any involvement in the
shoot-outs, is unknown.

formed in 1978, the guerrilla group has been waging an armed
struggle since 1984 in a bid of self-determination for the seven
percent minority kurds of turkey's 56 million population.

last thursday, the national security council, comprising cabinet
ministers, including prime minister suleyman demirel and high-
ranking army personnel, met in the south-eastern kurdish city of
diyarbakir to discuss the issue.

and in a joint statement issued afterwards said: ''the terrorist
organisation will be pursued in the mountains, in the cities --
both in the country and abroad -- and will be struck an
indispensable blow.''

since the start of this week, mountain commando troops have been
massively redeployed on the border region with iraq, and fighter
planes have been reported to be bombing kurdish villages at the
bottom of the judi mountain near the iraqi-turkish border.

caglayan and hisar villages are two such villages, with one
caglayan resident who does business in neighbouring cizre, saying
that the first raids carried on his village began tuesday.
(more/ips)

turkey: security troops launch outer border attack on pkk(2-e)

turkey: security (2)

''when i was turning back to my village this morning after having
sold the grape harvest in cizre, i was stopped by the soldiers,
who made be undress and drove me in the bushes and forced me to
stand in a pit. they they set the bushes on fire,'' claimed the
caglayan villager, whose hair, hands and face have fresh burns.

declining to give his name, he said the soldiers told him that no
one would be allowed to enter the village for the next three days.
''(they) released me. but my children are burning. i saw the
flames and smoke rising above the village,'' he said, breaking
down in tears.

a villager from hisar who had traveled to cizre to shop, also
complained that he had been ''forbidden'' from returning home.
''our village is in a ravine. i haven't seen any smoke. but
helicopters and fighter planes were flying over. they told me to
come back in three days time. i am extremely worried.''

although the military authorities continue to deny any ground
operations, there have been air raids over pkk camps in the
haftanin region in iraq, near to the turkish border.

and political analysts predict that the operation is likely to
expand, particularly after wednesday's meeting in ankara between
iraqi kurdish leaders jalal talabani and mesoud barzani, and the
top brass of the turkish administration.

the iraqi kurds have been reeling from an embargo enforced by the
pkk, who have stopped all across the border trade between turkey
and iraq in the last two months.

the aim of the embargo is two-fold -- as a show of muscle by the
10,000 strong rebel kurds, and as a means of establishing control
over the territory they hope to make their new operating base.

the pkk was previously based in the syrian-controlled bikaa
valley. but under an agreement signed earlier this year between
the turkish and syrian governments, it was agreed to flush the
kurds out.

since then, the pkk has been attempting to settle in northern
iraq, but their embargo tactics have rubbed the kurdish community
of the region the wrong way, with the influential talabani and
barzani both previously warning that the pkk was hurting its own
kurdish brethren. (end/ips/np/nm/cpg/92)