Turkish Troops Kill Five Kurdish Rebels

A female supporter of the Kurdistan Workers Party in Syria (file photo) (AFP) 24 February 2006 -- Turkish security forces have killed five suspected Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country.

Turkey's Anatolia news agency said the five were killed in a gun battle in the province of Mardin late on 23 February.


The five were reportedly members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).


Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey in 1984.


(Reuters, AP)

Iraq's Kurdish Region

Iraq's Kurdish Region

KURDISH AWAKENING: The ethnic Kurdish region in the northern part of Iraq has struggled in recent years to reestablish its cultural and political identity after decades of oppression under the regime of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In December, RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel traveled to this area and filed several reports:

Relative Peace Underscores Issue Of Kurdish Region's Future

Kurdish Culture Begins To Flourish In Kurdistan Region

Kurds Ponder How To Strengthen Autonomy After Elections

Irbil’s Kurds Live On A Hill Of Undiscovered Treasures


THE COMPLETE STORY: RFE/RL's complete coverage of events in Iraq and that country's ongoing transition.