Terror in the Mountains

Alisha Casey/ October 17, 2008/ 4:00

It is evident that in Eastern Turkey there has been many years of poverty and repression. This all came about in 1984 when the PKK launched a campaign for independence. According to the article, approximately 44,000 people have died during the conflict. All of this violence has continued to affect Turkey and the government reported that 300 billion dollars had been used in fighting the terrorist.

Earlier this month there have been 17 Turkish soldiers that have died as a result of the violence in Turkey. This is the following the capture of the PKK leader in 1999. Turkey is the center of current news when the Turkish parliment decided to bomb the PKK targets in Iraq. There is also the a new leak from the local newspaper about the armys competence when it comes to the bombing in Hakkari.

Along with all the other fighting and disputes there are also ethnic tensions in Turkey that resulted in two people dying. Turkey is blaming most of the conflict with the Kurds on the West. Despite all of this there is hope that Turkey and Iraqi Kurds may be attempting to make peace.

In my opinion, this is a horrible situation. It must be horrible for all the citizens living there to be going through such turmoil for so long. It must also be hard going through all of this along with living in poverty with no jobs and little if any education. Hopefully, Turkey and Iraq can can come to some kind of agreement soon not only for the country but for the citizens.


http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12429572