TURKEY: UNHCR MOVES REFUGEES TO SAFETY

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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English/Nat As Turkey continues its offensive against Kurds in northern Iraq, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Sunday) began moving thousands of Kurds to safer camps. Turkey says it taking the utmost care to protect civilians, but the U-N and western governments have expressed concern for their welfare. APTV has obtained amateur video footage from the battle zone showing the remains of a village near Metina mountain which has come under fire from Turkish artillery. High in the hills of northern Iraq, the Turkish army is on the move. Their mission; to flush out Kurdish guerrillas from their caves and hilltop strongholds. Fanning out across the rugged terrain, they must move with speed and with care. Their fear is that PKK fighters laid mines as they retreated from the area, after word spread of the Turkish government's decision to send in 35-thousand troops last weekend. Their orders are to seek and destroy. This display was largely for the benefit of the media. The international spotlight is firmly on the behaviour of the Turkish military. Kurdish groups claim they're guilty of wholesale slaughter, and talk of countless civilian casualties. This village near Metina in northern Iraq was a stronghold of the P-K-K until it came under fire from Turkish artillery. These amateur video pictures show the village was badly damaged in the attack, which came from Turkish positions on hills near the border between Turkey and northern Iraq. Fierce battles have been fought in this region over the last two days and some reports say three villages at the base of Metina mountain have been hit by Turkish warplanes. The villages were sparsely populated and most Kurds had fled by Thursday. The Turkish government has stressed it will protect civilians but western governments and the United Nations have indicated they will not tolerate innocent people coming under fire in the conflict. Washington also reiterated on Friday that Turkey must make sure the offensive is finished off quickly. But in an exclusive interview, Turkish President Suleyman Demirel told APTV it was impossible to determine when the conflict would end. SOUNDBITE: "I am saying, what I am telling you - I don't think it will take more than a year. But it won't be finished within days, or within a couple of weeks I can tell you". Q: Not in a couple of weeks? "Oh no it's a very difficult thing. You know when you have thirty five thousand people on the mountains, then you should expect results. Results should be just the clearing of the mountains and then we are not willing to kill anyone." SUPERCAPTION: President Suleyman Demirel Kurds fear that what they regard as persecution by their neighbours means they will never realise their dream of an independent homeland But Turkey claims the reasons for the conflict go beyond a determination to crush the independence movement. SOUNDBITE: "The purpose is not only to kill or to eliminate, or to make ineffective the terrorist - actually no one knows what happened yet, because it's just the beginning - and then this is very plain in the action, the results should be seen at the end. They are clearing out all the caves and all the airports, all the storages, and they're finding lots of ammunition. lots of bombs, and lots of guns, and....it's another purpose of this operation". SUPER CAPTION: President Suleyman Demirel The President also called for understanding on the part of the West. SOUNDBITE: "All that we want is that our friends in the West should understand our problem, and then all we ask is to defend our soil to defend our borders, to defend our people. The Turkish state did not start this." SUPERCAPTION: President Suleyman Demirel You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7cd5870a9c80248e0c16fd62c70bddaa Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork