April 7,
2008: The Turkish government is arguing that a recent European Court of Justice
ruling that it was illegal for the EU to declare the PKK a terrorists
organization does not mean that the PKK is not a terrorist organization. The
ruling simply means that proper procedures were not followed. The ruling is a
major issue for both Turkey and the PKK. The Turkish government argues that
several major European nations do not take the threat posed by the PKK
seriously. Turkey points out that over 40,000 people have died in the Kurd War
since the early 1980s. Turkey's argument is technical but then the ruling is
apparently technical as well. The court said that the PKK was not given the
opportunity to contest the ruling.
April 6,
2008: PKK rebels detonated a bomb in a
village in southeastern Turkey. One village militiaman was killed and four
others were wounded.
April 2,
2008: Turkish security forces claimed to have killed 16 PKK rebels in operations
in southeastern Turkey over the last two days.
April 1,
2008: Three Syrian Kurds were killed in late March when Syrian security police
fired on a Nauruz (Nawrooz) news years celebration. Five Syrian Kurds were also
wounded in the incident. Syria does not want its Kurds to act too Kurdish. Meanwhile,
the Syrian government has supported the PKK's war against Turkey for several
reason, but a major one is to "keep the PKK bought" so it will not make trouble
in Syria. Killing some Syrian Kurds from
time to time is a reminder to the PKK. The three million Kurds in Syria make up
about 16 percent of the Syrian population, and about 12 percent of the Kurds in
the region.
March 31,
2008: Three Turkish security personnel died in a firefight with PKK rebels in southeastern
Turkey near the Iraq border. Turkish Air Force fighter-bombers also struck PKK
targets in the area.
