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DATE=4/3/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / KURDS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260884
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  Turkish troops are pushing ahead with their 
annual spring offensive against Kurdish rebels in 
northern Iraq.  Amberin Zaman in Ankara reports the 
cross-border incursion has prompted sharp protests 
from Baghdad.
TEXT:  Thousands of Turkish troops, backed by attack 
helicopters and fighter jets, are continuing search 
operations for rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan 
Workers Party, or P-K-K, in the rugged mountains of 
Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.
Details of the operation remain vague, but a senior 
Turkish military commander said (last week) that 
preparations were under way to in his words to 
eliminate about three-thousand P-K-K rebels believed 
to be hiding across the border.
Pro-government Iraqi media called for an immediate 
withdrawal of Turkish troops from the region lashed 
out against what they term a flagrant violation of 
Iraq's territorial sovereignty and.
The Turkish offensive comes despite the P-K-K's 
announcement last year that it has ended its 15-year 
armed campaign for Kurdish independence.  The rebels 
say they will take their fight to the diplomatic 
arena, and that their goal is  no  longer independence 
but securing cultural and language rights for Turkey's 
estimated 12-million Kurds.
It remains unclear just how the P-K-K leadership will 
respond to what Kurdish activists here describe as the 
latest sign of Turkish intransigence.  Turkish 
officials insist that the P-K-K's newly-conciliatory 
stance is aimed at saving their imprisoned leader, 
Abdullah Ocalan from execution.
Military analysts say it also reflects the string of 
crushing military defeats the rebels have suffered 
during the past few years.
Ocalan was handed the death sentence on treason 
charges by a Turkish court last June.  Turkey's 
coalition government, led by Prime Minister Bulent 
Ecevit, put a stay on Ocalan's execution pending a 
review of the verdict by the European Court of Human 
Rights.   (Signed)
NEB/AZ/JWH/WTW
03-Apr-2000 10:44 AM EDT (03-Apr-2000 1444 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.