VOA常速英语2007年-Tensions High on Turkey-Iraq Border

By Sonja Pace
Diyarbakir, Turkey
01 November 2007
 

Turkey has just hosted an international conference on how best to stabilize¹ Iraq despite being on an increasingly poor footing with its eastern neighbor. Ankara accuses Iraq of sheltering separatist Kurdish rebels and allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks against Turkey and has sent a clear warning it is ready to send its own army into northern Iraq to stop the rebel attacks. VOA's Sonja Pace reports from the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on the underlying² causes of the border tensions and what it means for both Turks and Kurds.

Turkey has sent them -- into the hills and mountains of the southeast and along the border with northern Iraq. Its soldiers and armaments are poised³ to move, across the border whenever Ankara gives the word.

Clashes between the army and the rebels have been on the rise, inside Turkey and along the border, but the conflict goes back decades. More than 30,000 people have been killed since the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, began its fight for Kurdish autonomy in 1984.

Ankara and Washington have declared the PKK a terrorist organization and many in Turkey agree.

But for others, like Azize Yigit, the PKK is simply fighting for the rights of the ethnic⁴ Kurdish minority.

"People with children will understand how hard it is," she says. Two of her sons joined the PKK in the 1990s. Yigit blames the difficulties Kurds face in Turkey for their decision.

Her younger son, Farouk, was killed within months after he joined. She has not heard from her other son, Mehmet, but clings to the belief that he is still alive somewhere in the mountains.

Azize Yigit and others like her banded together to form Mothers of Peace, an organization of women whose sons and daughters have gone off to fight, have died or gone to prison.

Seventy-six-year-old Hanim Pence lost two sons in the conflict. "I want peace. I want a country where Kurds and Turks live together in peace, she says. "No more war, no more tears of the mothers."

The women say they want to prevent another generation from dying.

Same conflict; more deaths. This time it's Turkish soldiers, police, and civil servants killed in the fight with the PKK.

Ahmet Buyukburc lost a brother in the conflict and founded his own organization to honor those killed. "Our aim is to stop terrorism," he says, adding that it is the duty of all countries to say "no" to terrorism. Buyukburc believes the killing⁵ in Turkey will only stop when the PKK is routed. He says it's time the government takes tougher action. He believes a cross-border incursion to hit PKK bases in Iraq is long overdue⁶.

Even in Diyarbakir in the heartland of the Turkey's Kurdish region - there are many who support military action; many who do not.

When Turkey celebrated⁷ the 84th anniversary of the founding of the Republic, there were parades like this one throughout the country.

Towns were awash in a sea of Turkish flags. Yet, even in places like the small town of Diyarbakir in the southeast, it was the military show of might that received the most applause.

Emotions are mixed and running high on the PKK issue and there has been increasing pressure on the Turkish government to give the military the go ahead to get tough, despite calls for restraint from the United States and Europe.

1 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

2 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

3 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

7 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。