VOA常速英语2008年-Iraqi Kurds Concerned About Turkish Incursion

By Daniel Schearf
Irbil, Iraq
26 February 2008

Turkey's military said they have killed 41 Kurdish rebels Monday for a total 153 rebels and 17 Turkish soldiers killed during fighting in northern Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraq's national security adviser¹ has expressed concern that Turkey's attacks in Iraq may lead to a clash with Iraq's Kurdish security forces. Daniel Shearf reports from Irbil.

A statement on Turkey's military website says the rebels were killed during the fourth day of clashes as Turkish artillery² pounded suspected Kurdish rebel hideouts inside Iraq.

The Kurdish rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, say their losses are much lower, though none of the figures can be independently verified.

Tensions are growing over Turkey's raid into Iraqi Kurdistan to root out the PKK.

Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffaq Al-Rubaie said Monday the longer the Turkish military stays in Iraq the more likely they are to clash with Iraqi security forces.

Iraqi Kurdistan's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani confirmed that Kurdish elite³ security called Pashmirga last week forced a group of Turkish soldiers to return to their base.

He says the Kurdish people are never in favor of war or making war with anyone, but if targeted or attacked, he says, they will defend themselves.

Turkish tanks and hundreds, perhaps thousands of soldiers, crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan after heavy shelling targeted at the PKK in Iraq. Iraqi leaders have condemned⁴ the destruction of civilian⁵ infrastructure⁶ from Turkey's assault and called on Turkish forces to withdraw and for dialogue to resolve the conflict.

On Monday several hundred students in Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, protested the Turkish raid. Demonstrators at the university of Kurdistan Hawler held up a banner asking, "where is the international community."

Namo Abdullah is the organizer of the student protest.

"We want to pressure the EU to pressure on the U.S. Actually the U.S. is also guilty as much as Turkey, because the U.S. legitimizes Turkey, US allows Turkey to intervene in Iraqi territory," he said.

Many countries, including the United States have designated the PKK a terrorist organization and support Turkey's right to defend itself, but they are also concerned the conflict may destabilize northern Iraq, and urged Turkey to respect the Iraq sovereignty and finish the operation as soon as possible.

1 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

2 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

3 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

4 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

5 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

6 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。