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Turks & Kurds

Tension between the groups has been a fact of life in Turkey since the founding of the Republic. Now the Iraq War is upsetting an already precarious equilibrium

To the Turks, they're "Mountain Turks," but the Kurds view themselves as a distinctive ethnic group with only geographic ties to the country in which they live. Their decades-long struggle for an independent Kurdistan on Turkey's eastern border has at times turned deadly, claiming 30,000 lives in the early 1980s. Though the groups have taken steps toward conciliation in recent years, the recent disruption caused by the Iraq War has created a de facto Kurdistan in northern Iraq, once again igniting the hopes of Kurds—and the fears of Turks.

Stories

Stories 41 - 54 of 54

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  • July 2007

    • Turkish Elections Boost PM

      Reuters  |  Jul 22, 07 6:00 PM CDT

      Turkish Elections Boost PM

      (Newser) - Turkey’s ruling party dominated parliamentary elections today despite its perceived threat to the nation’s entrenched secularism. The elections were moved up after the secular opposition foiled PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan's attempt to install an ex-Islamist ally as president. The results, seen as a mandate for the AKP, also raise the risk of increased conflict, Reuters reports. More »

    • Market Bombing Is Year's Worst

      Los Angeles Times  |  Jul 8, 07 9:39 AM CDT

      Market Bombing Is Year's Worst

      (Newser) - The body count in yesterday's suicide bombing of a market in Amerli, in northern Iraq, is up to 150, making it the year's worst bomb attack in Iraq, the LA Times reports. Officials fear the area, 100 miles from Baghdad, has been targeted by al-Qaeda in Iraq militants pushed out of other strongholds. More »

  • June 2007

    • Turks, Kurds in Tense Standoff at Iraqi Border

      New York Times  |  Jun 8, 07 6:42 AM CDT

      Turks, Kurds in Tense Standoff at Iraqi Border

      (Newser) - As the Turkish military continued its aggressive saber-rattling along the border with Iraq this week, the US finds itself in a tough spot. The Turks want a green light to go after Kurdish separatist guerrillas hiding in northern Iraq; the Kurds want protection. “Now the U.S. has to choose,” a Turkish official tells the New York Times , “Turkish people or Kurdish people.”   More »

    • Turkey Menaces Kurds

      Associated Press  |  Jun 1, 07 6:00 AM CDT

      Turkey Menaces Kurds

      (Newser) - Turkish troops and tanks amassing along the border with Iraq are ready to go after Kurdish separatist guerrillas as soon as they get the order, the country's top general said yesterday. The US, Iraq and the EU are all urging Turkey not to launch the offensive, which could destabilize Northern Iraq. More »

  • May 2007

    • Turks Finger Kurds Over Bombing

      Financial Times (UK)  |  May 24, 07 5:51 AM CDT

      Turks Finger Kurds Over Bombing

      (Newser) - Turkish authorities identified the suicide bomber in Tuesday's Ankara bombing yesterday, and pointed the finger at the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group headquartered in northern iraq. The Financial Times reports  the bombing  has renewed calls for Turkey to attack guerrilla bases in Kurdistan, a move which would have serious repercussions for US relations. More »

    • Bombing Rocks Turkish Capital

      New York Times  |  May 23, 07 7:28 AM CDT

      Bombing Rocks Turkish Capital

      (Newser) - An explosion shocked the Turkish capital yesterday, killing six and injuring at least 100 in a busy marketplace. The bombing comes at a delicate time for the country, the New York Times observes, as Parliament clash with the governing party over the place of Islam in the secular democracy. More »

    • Democracy Depends on Kurdistan

      Guardian (UK)  |  May 1, 07 12:52 PM CDT

      Democracy Depends on Kurdistan

      (Newser) - While the U.S. focuses on Baghdad, a potentially defining crisis is developing in Kurdistan, according to Mark Lattimer, director of Minority Rights Group International. He argues in the Guardian that bloodshed in the only relatively secure region of Iraq is increasing as Kurds forced out of Kirkuk by Saddam tangle with Shi’ites resettled in Kurdistan. More »

  • March 2007

    • Turks threaten action in Iraq against Kurds

      Guardian (UK)  |  Mar 23, 07 8:30 AM CDT

      (Newser) - Turkey is threatening military intervention against leftist Kurdish guerrillas said to be massing in northern Iraq, planning to attack targets across their border. Washington is trying to placate the Turks, fearing that a Turkish incursion would further destabilize the fledgling Iraqi government. More »

    • The Uncontainable Kurds

      New York Review of Books  |  Mar 18, 07 8:43 PM CDT

      The Uncontainable Kurds

      (Newser) - Tehran resident and frequent commentator on Iran, Christopher de Bellaigue, travels west to Turkey to examine the status of Kurds in Turkey. He describes how some have become the fully assimilated Turks that the government so much wanted them to become; but that many have maintained a separate ethnic and cultural identity in their southeastern Turkey homeland and within neighborhoods of the large cities in Western Turkey. More »

  • April 2006
  • March 1999
  • July 1996
  • June 1994
  • September 1992

Stories 41 - 54 of 54

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Kurds shout as they wave flags and banners of convicted Kurdistan...   (Getty Images (by Event))
Turkish Kurds hold flags of a pro-Kurdish party as they dance during the celebrations for Nowruz, an ancient Persian spring festival which means "new year" in Farsi language, in southeastern Turkish city...   (Associated Press)
A Turkish girl waves a national flag in   (Getty Images)
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Background

Kurdistan
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Mountainous region of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, inhabited predominantly by Kurds. It covers about 74,000 sq mi (191,660 sq km), and its chief towns are Diyarbakir, Bitlis, and Van in Turkey, Mosul and Karkuk in Iraq, and Kermanshah in ...

» Read more about Kurdistan at Encyclopedia.com

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Kurdish nationalist party. It was founded in Turkish Kurdistan in 1978 and sought to establish an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey . It attacked Turkish interests and fellow Kurds suspected of collaboration with the ...

» Read more about Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) at Encyclopedia.com

Kurds
A Dictionary of World History

Kurds A people who have maintained a distinct culture for over 3000 years despite never having been united under a single ruler. An Islamic pastoral people the Kurds inhabit an extensive plateau and mountainous region of the Middle East, south of the Caucasus, including large parts of ...

» Read more about Kurds at Encyclopedia.com

Turkey
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Turkey Turk. Türkiye , officially Republic of Turkey, republic (2005 est. pop. 69,661,000), 301,380 sq mi (780,574 sq km), SW Asia and SE Europe. It borders on Iraq (SE), Syria and the Mediterranean Sea (S), the Aegean Sea (W), Greece and Bulgaria (NW), on the Black Sea (N), and Armenia, ...

» Read more about Turkey at Encyclopedia.com

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