Reb Leader Calls for Kurd Uprising in Turkey

Insurgency urged as Iraq battle continues
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 24, 2008 7:31 AM CST
Reb Leader Calls for Kurd Uprising in Turkey
In this photo released by the Turkish Military on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008, Turkish commandos are seen during an operation in an undisclosed location on the Turkish-Iraqi border, southeastern Turkey. Turkish forces pressed ahead with ground operations against Kurdish rebels in Iraq on Saturday Feb. 23,...   (Associated Press)

As Turkish troops continue their unprecedented ground offensive in northern Iraq, a leader of the targeted Kurdish separatist group has called for Kurds living in Turkey to rebel. A news agency loyal to the Kurdistan Workers' Party carried the call of the rebel Kurd commander to make Turkish cities "uninhabitable." He pointed out that only a few young people would be necessary to burn hundreds of cars.

"In the big cities, Kurdish youth must give their reply to the military operations," said the PKK commander, who drew parallels to Iraqi resistance to American occupying forces. Turkey, along with the US and the EU, considers the PKK a terrorist organization and blames it for the death of 40,000 people since the start of the party's campaign for an independent Kurdistan in 1984. (More PKK stories.)

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