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Canadian Press
Sept 23 2006
Suspected Kurdish guerrillas set off a truck bomb in eastern Turkey,
17 hurt
Canadian Press
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Suspected Kurdish guerrillas set off an
explosive-laden minibus across from a police guest house in eastern
Turkey, injuring 17 people Saturday, the governor's office said.
The Ford minibus parked across from the police guest house, went off
in eastern city Igdir on the Armenian border, the governor's office
announced. Two of the injured were in serious condition, he said.
The injured included five police officers and some officials of a
small soccer club who travelled from Ankara to Igdir for a match,
private Dogan news agency said. The blast shattered the windows of
the police guest house and other buildings in the area.
"Thank God, we don't have any loss," Dogan quoted deputy governor
Mehmet Yilmaz saying.
The explosion coincided with complaints by imprisoned guerrilla chief
Abdullah Ocalan about his prison conditions, which were relayed by
his lawyers, the pro-Kurdish news agency Firat reported on its
website Saturday.
The attack also comes after recent declaration of co-operation
between Turkey, the United States and Iraq in fighting the
guerrillas, who are based in northern Iraq.
The guerrillas have recently intensified their attacks across the
country and have so far ignored a recent call by the pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society party to declare a unilateral ceasefire in the
hopes of establishing dialogue with the state.
Earlier Saturday, autonomy-seeking Kurdish guerrillas detonated a
remote-controlled bomb, derailing a freight train in southeastern
Turkey, officials said. No injuries were reported in that attack
which occurred in Elazig province. Seven train carriages derailed and
a total of eight were damaged.
The guerrillas have also carried out bomb attack in Mediterranean
resorts, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, including
10 Britons in a minibus bombing in the popular resort town Marmaris
in late August.
Ocalan's guerrilla group has long demanded Ocalan be moved out of
solitary confinement. Ocalan has been in prison on the prison island
Imrali, off Istanbul, since his capture Feb. 15, 1999 in Kenya.
His guerrilla group and supporters have long expressed concern about
Ocalan's health. But a delegation from the Council of Europe's
committee for the prevention of torture, which visited Ocalan on the
island in 1999, said the leader's cell was well lit and suitably
equipped.
Turkey also maintains doctors closely monitor Ocalan's health.
The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 37,000 people since
the guerrillas took up arms for autonomy in 1984.
The United States and the European Union have called on Turkey to
improve the economy of the war-ravaged southeastern Turkey to end the
22-year-old conflict, which has killed 37,000 people. Turkey insists
it will not negotiate with terrorists, threatening to fight until all
guerrillas are killed or surrender.
Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the Turkish military, recently ruled
out any compromise and said negotiations with "terrorists" are out of
question. Buyukanit said the new co-operation with the United States
was aimed at finishing off the guerillas.
A special U.S. envoy, retired air force general Joseph Ralston,
visited Ankara earlier this month and assured Turks of Washington's
commitment to helping Turkey and Iraq confront the Kurdistan Workers
party, or PKK, which the United States lists as a terrorist
organization. The PKK is also labelled as a terrorist group by the
EU.
Ralston, the former NATO supreme allied commander, stressed however
the use of force against the autonomy-seeking group should be a last
resort.
The bulk of the PKK's estimated 5,000 guerrillas are thought to be in
Turkey but many operate in Iraq and Iran.
The guerrillas have benefitted from the years of a power vacuum in
northern Iraq to stage cross-border offensives in Turkey's
Kurdish-dominated southeast, as Turkey complained of lack of U.S.
support in fighting the guerrillas while Turkish soldiers served in
Afghanistan to support the U.S.-led war against global terrorism.
The appointment of Ralston came after Turkey issued thinly veiled
threats to stage a unilateral cross-border offensive into northern
Iraq to hunt down Kurdish guerrillas.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials have
repeatedly warned Turkey against entering northern Iraq, one of the
few stable areas in that country, fearing an incursion would alienate
Iraqi Kurds, the most pro-U.S. group in the region.
From: Baghdasarian
Sept 23 2006
Suspected Kurdish guerrillas set off a truck bomb in eastern Turkey,
17 hurt
Canadian Press
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Suspected Kurdish guerrillas set off an
explosive-laden minibus across from a police guest house in eastern
Turkey, injuring 17 people Saturday, the governor's office said.
The Ford minibus parked across from the police guest house, went off
in eastern city Igdir on the Armenian border, the governor's office
announced. Two of the injured were in serious condition, he said.
The injured included five police officers and some officials of a
small soccer club who travelled from Ankara to Igdir for a match,
private Dogan news agency said. The blast shattered the windows of
the police guest house and other buildings in the area.
"Thank God, we don't have any loss," Dogan quoted deputy governor
Mehmet Yilmaz saying.
The explosion coincided with complaints by imprisoned guerrilla chief
Abdullah Ocalan about his prison conditions, which were relayed by
his lawyers, the pro-Kurdish news agency Firat reported on its
website Saturday.
The attack also comes after recent declaration of co-operation
between Turkey, the United States and Iraq in fighting the
guerrillas, who are based in northern Iraq.
The guerrillas have recently intensified their attacks across the
country and have so far ignored a recent call by the pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society party to declare a unilateral ceasefire in the
hopes of establishing dialogue with the state.
Earlier Saturday, autonomy-seeking Kurdish guerrillas detonated a
remote-controlled bomb, derailing a freight train in southeastern
Turkey, officials said. No injuries were reported in that attack
which occurred in Elazig province. Seven train carriages derailed and
a total of eight were damaged.
The guerrillas have also carried out bomb attack in Mediterranean
resorts, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, including
10 Britons in a minibus bombing in the popular resort town Marmaris
in late August.
Ocalan's guerrilla group has long demanded Ocalan be moved out of
solitary confinement. Ocalan has been in prison on the prison island
Imrali, off Istanbul, since his capture Feb. 15, 1999 in Kenya.
His guerrilla group and supporters have long expressed concern about
Ocalan's health. But a delegation from the Council of Europe's
committee for the prevention of torture, which visited Ocalan on the
island in 1999, said the leader's cell was well lit and suitably
equipped.
Turkey also maintains doctors closely monitor Ocalan's health.
The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 37,000 people since
the guerrillas took up arms for autonomy in 1984.
The United States and the European Union have called on Turkey to
improve the economy of the war-ravaged southeastern Turkey to end the
22-year-old conflict, which has killed 37,000 people. Turkey insists
it will not negotiate with terrorists, threatening to fight until all
guerrillas are killed or surrender.
Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the Turkish military, recently ruled
out any compromise and said negotiations with "terrorists" are out of
question. Buyukanit said the new co-operation with the United States
was aimed at finishing off the guerillas.
A special U.S. envoy, retired air force general Joseph Ralston,
visited Ankara earlier this month and assured Turks of Washington's
commitment to helping Turkey and Iraq confront the Kurdistan Workers
party, or PKK, which the United States lists as a terrorist
organization. The PKK is also labelled as a terrorist group by the
EU.
Ralston, the former NATO supreme allied commander, stressed however
the use of force against the autonomy-seeking group should be a last
resort.
The bulk of the PKK's estimated 5,000 guerrillas are thought to be in
Turkey but many operate in Iraq and Iran.
The guerrillas have benefitted from the years of a power vacuum in
northern Iraq to stage cross-border offensives in Turkey's
Kurdish-dominated southeast, as Turkey complained of lack of U.S.
support in fighting the guerrillas while Turkish soldiers served in
Afghanistan to support the U.S.-led war against global terrorism.
The appointment of Ralston came after Turkey issued thinly veiled
threats to stage a unilateral cross-border offensive into northern
Iraq to hunt down Kurdish guerrillas.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials have
repeatedly warned Turkey against entering northern Iraq, one of the
few stable areas in that country, fearing an incursion would alienate
Iraqi Kurds, the most pro-U.S. group in the region.
From: Baghdasarian