TRKNWS-L NEWS from Vic McDonald

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

From: tabe at newsdesk.aps.nl
Subject: TRKNWS-L NEWS from Vic McDonald
Reply-To: kurdeng at aps.nl

 2.20)
           id VT2655; Wed, 03 May 1995 19:33:29 -0800


Ciller: Turkish Troops Dramatically Reduced in Iraq

    ANKARA, May 2 (Reuter) - Turkey has only three battalions left inside
northern Iraq in its drive againt rebel Kurds, Prime Minister Tansu Ciller
said on Tuesday.

    This meant that only 2,000 to 3,000 of the original 35,000-strong force
sent across the border six weeks ago remained in northern Iraq, military
sources said.

    ``We presently have three battalions in northern Iraq and they will be
withdrawn as they complete their assignments,'' Ciller told her party's
parliamentary deputies.

    Turkish forces crossed into northern Iraq on March 20 to strike at
guerrilla bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

    Turkey, which has come under fire from some of its Western allies for the
incursion, pulled out 3,000 and 20,000 soldiers in two rounds last month.

    Ciller said the drive was ``one of the most successful campaigns in
Turkish history.''

    A military statement said on Tuesday the northern Iraq operation had so
far cost $66 million.

    It said it was confirmed that 555 PKK members were killed in 43 days of
fighting while 61 government soldiers were killed and four were missing.

    The military says the actual PKK death toll is higher because it was
impossible to recover many bodies in the rough mountains of the 14,000-sq-km
(5,400-sq-mile) wide theatre of operation.

    More than 15,000 people have been killed in 11 years of fighting between
Ankara's forces and PKK guerrillas.

    The statement listed large quantities of weapons and ammunition seized
from the rebels in northern Iraq, including 1,000 rifles, 58 machineguns, 118
rocket launchers, 3,500 RPG-7 rockets and 5,800 anti-tank and anti-personnel
mines.

    The rebels were armed with recoilless guns, anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank
missiles and mortars, as well as sophisticated night vision equipment, mine
detectors and wireless sets.

    ``Considering that these weapons would have been used to kill innocent
citizens, the need for the operation and the benefits derived from it are
obvious,'' the statement said.

    ``These weapons must be exhibited to the whole world. They were stored to
killl innocent people,'' said Ciller.

    Northern Iraq has been outside the Baghdad government's control since a
Kurdish rebellion after the 1991 Gulf War. The order established by Iraqi
Kurdish groups has largely collapsed in recent months because of a feud among
rival movements.


European Delegation Arrives in Turkey
   A delegation from the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe
has arrived in Turkey to investigate claims of human rights abuses against
the Kurdish minority. Prime Minister Tansu Ciller has cautioned Europe
against neglecting to take account of human rights abuses carried out by the
PKK (The Guardian)