Northern Turkey at Brave New Films

Inside Story - Turkey raids into Iraq - 24 Feb 08 -Part 2

2008-10-14T11:29:41Z

Turkey's raids into northern Iraq are continuing, amid international consternation

Inside Iraq - Is Israel helping Iraq's Kurds -09 Nov 07-Pt 2

2008-10-22T15:30:01Z

Inside Iraq looks at allegations that Israeli intelligence and military experts are training Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq. Inside Iraq investigates the plausibility of such reports. Inside Iraq asks: Is there any historical precedent of an Israeli-Kurdish collaboration? And what interests and implications might be at play here?

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Ankara readies to act against PKK - 06 Oct 07

2008-10-22T15:31:22Z

Turkey's president Abdullah Gul says his country has now decided on a plan of action against the Kurdish PKK fighters which Ankara says are based in northern Iraq.

It comes a day after U.S. President George Bush met the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and said the PKK was also an enemy of the U.S.

Mike Hanna has been gauging reaction on the streets of Istanbul.

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Inside Iraq - High stakes for Turkey - 02 Nov 07 - Part 2

2008-10-22T21:29:44Z

Inside Iraq examines the growing fears of a military conflict in northern Iraq.

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Inside Iraq - High stakes for Turkey - 02 Nov 07 - Part 1

2008-10-22T21:29:48Z

Inside Iraq examines the growing fears of a military conflict in northern Iraq.

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Frost Over The World - Stem Cell Research and Turkey -26 Oct

2008-10-23T03:29:41Z

Professor Sir Martin Evans, who just received the Nobel prize for medicine, talks about his stem cell research and Gulnur Aybet of the University of Kent and Dan Sreebny, a senior diplomat at the US embassy in London talk about the ongoing tension between Turkey and the PKK.

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Inside Iraq - Border tensions - 26 Oct 07 - Part 1

2008-10-23T03:29:48Z

Inside Iraq looks at the grave implications of the tension between Turkey and Iraq as analysts say a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq will force Kurds to choose between Iraq and Kurdistan.

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Inside Iraq - Border tensions - 26 Oct 07 - Part 2

2008-10-23T03:29:49Z

Inside Iraq looks at the grave implications of the tension between Turkey and Iraq as analysts say a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq will force Kurds to choose between Iraq and Kurdistan.

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Inside Story- Iraq- Turkey talks- 25 Oct 07- Part 2

2008-10-23T03:30:12Z

A high-level Iraqi delegation has arrived for talks as tensions continue to rise.

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Inside Story- Iraq- Turkey talks- 25 Oct 07- Part 1

2008-10-23T03:30:12Z

A high-level Iraqi delegation has arrived for talks as tensions continue to rise.

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Kurdish separatist leader Murat Karayilan's interview

2008-12-25T04:41:56Z

Al Jazeera's correspondent Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from the mountains of Northern Iraq as Turkey's parliament weighs authorising a military incursion into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels. Cabinet members are due to vote on the proposal in a few hours. Ankara is under pressure from the United States and Iraq not to launch a cross-border offensive against the PKK. In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, the PKK's leader says they don't want to fight, but will respond to any military action. Abdel-Hamid reports: We drove six hours up to Mount Qandil to meet with the PKK leader Murat Karayilan. The Turkish government is threatening cross border operations to rid him and his fighters from their base in Mount Qandil. It says that from here they plan and support attacks on Turkish soil. Murat Karayilan says that as long as Kurds in Turkey are not given their rights they will continue their struggle.

"Its not true that we are crossing the border. We have fighters everywhere, even on the border, its not necessary to send any from here," he says. "How can we send them from here to the Black sea its too far. They are not telling the truth, Turkey's aim is to attack Iraqi Kurds."

So Turkey has a point when it says there are fighters to go from here into southern Turkey?

A: Yes, Turkey might very well attack. Its real aim is to put pressure on Iraqi Kurdistan. But its doing this now, because of the bill on the Armenian genocide. They are putting pressure on the US to gain something from them.

Now Turkey says that through these mountains, you smuggle weapons into Turkey?

A: It's not so difficult to buy arms here, you can also buy them, in particular modern weapons, in Istanbul. If you have money, you can buy them anywhere. Turkey is using this as an argument for attacking Iraq. Turkey is trying to prevent us from getting a political solution and continues to deny the rights of the Kurds in Turkey. In Iraq, the head of the state is a Kurd and Turkey doesn't recognise Kurdish leaders. They have a problem with Kurds.

The Iraqi government for the first time labelled the PKK as a terrorist organisation, they clearly said publicly that they are going to chase you from these mountains?

A: I think Turkey is going to put more pressure on the Kurds but we are open for solutions, but if Turkey is going to use violence against our movement, our leader and our people then we will respond. It seems that Turkey is preparing for an attack, that means we have to resist.

Now, the PKK leader also said that there had been no direct contact between him and the govt in Baghdad after the visit of PM Maliki in Ankara where he signed a memorandum of understanding where he pledged to rid these mountains of PKK fighters.

With such a resolve, Kurds living near the Iraqi-Turkey border can only expect more trouble ahead. Neither the PKK, nor Turkey seem to have found a starting point for negotiations that could lead to a peaceful settlement.

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Northern Iraq's Kurdish village caught in the middle

2008-10-23T15:30:32Z

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports from the village of Dashta Takh on the far northern edge of Iraq. The area is closely monitored by Turkish soldiers camped in the mountains just a few hundred meters away. The border consists of nothing else than this river and there is no Iraqi military presence here. Residents describe a low intensity, but continuous shelling campaign around their village. Dashta Takh is one of many villages dotting this long mountaineous border trapped in the ongoing fight between Turkey and the PKK. Even though the fighters are Kurds, many villagers have little sympathy for their struggle.

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