ATAA Condemns Deadly PKK Attack
on Turkish Army Convoy
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Community Information Service
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September 7, 2015 / No:823
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ATAA Condemns Deadly PKK Attack
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The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) strongly condemns continued terrorist attacks by the Marxist Leninist Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in Turkey. In latest terror attack, PKK terrorists targeted Turkish soldiers late Sunday in the town of Dağlıca in Turkey’s southeastern Hakkari province, killing 16 soldiers and wounded 6. Since July of 2015, 97 security officers lost their lives in heinous PKK terrorist attacks:
The PKK is a terrorist organization according to the laws of the United States,
Turkey and European Union. In 2010, the United States Supreme Court held in the Humanitarian Law Project case that financial and lobbying support to even the PKK’s and Hamas‘ “nonviolent” activities constitutes support for terrorism and violates U.S. law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit held in the Parlak case that the PKK was a racist organization that persecutes people who are not Kurdish as well as Kurds who do not support the PKK’s Marxist-Leninist political ideology. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit held in the Ozdemir case that Turkey’s military and police actions against the PKK are not ethnic-based and that they constitute legitimate anti-terror operations.
Since 1984, the PKK has caused the deaths of over 35,000 people, including Americans. The PKK has caused billions of dollars of property damage worldwide. The PKK claims to represent Kurds, but includes a sliver of roughly 5,000 radicals and militants. The PKK is funded by revenue from narcotics and cigarette smuggling, human trafficking, sexual exploitation of women and children, as well as state and private supporters of terrorism.
Mainstream Turkish citizens of Kurdish heritage, who contribute to Turkey’s rich diversity of 77 million people, do not support the PKK, and do not support violence. There has never been apartheid, segregation, or statute based discrimination against Turkish citizens of Kurdish heritage. The vast majority of Turkish Kurds have integrated with the diverse ethnicity of Turkey and significantly contribute to Turkey’s economic, political, and cultural strengths.
The ATAA supports greater cooperation between the United States and Turkey to combat international terrorism, including the PKK and ISIL (DAESH). The ATAA expresses its highest respect to the 16 Turkish security forces, who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom in Turkey and global peace. The ATAA also expresses its deepest sympathies to the families of the victims of PKK terrorism and the people of Turkey, and wishes them strength, patience and determination. ATAA urges the US, NATO members and Iraq to increase their support for Turkey |
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© Entire content copyright 2015 by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
All rights reserved.
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This article may be reprinted without the permission of ATAA and free of charge under the conditions that the entirety of the article is printed without alteration to text, art or graphics, the title of the reprinted or republished version attributes the article to ATAA, and the
ATAA website link www.ataa.org is included in the reprinted or republished version. |
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Dostlar,
Türk – Amerikan Derneklerine duyarlıkları için teşekkür ediyoruz.
Sevgi ve saygı ile.
08.09.2015, Datça
Dr. Ahmet SALTIK
www.ahmetsaltik.net
profsaltik@gmail.com