VOA标准英语2011--Deaths Rise as Outlawed Kurdish Guerrillas Continue Fight

Deaths Rise as Outlawed¹ Kurdish Guerrillas Continue Fight

The Kurds are the world’s largest ethnic² minority without a nation of its own. Less than 20 percent live in northern Iraq where they have achieved regional autonomy. But others are still fighting for increased political and civil rights in Iran, Turkey and Syria. That fight, led by outlawed armed guerrillas, has resulted in the deaths of more than 40,000 people.

Kurdish militant³ fighters train and hide in the mountains of northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. The Kurdistan Workers Party, labeled by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist organization, claims to want increased rights for Kurds in Turkey and Iran, and uses violence to achieve those goals.

Rezan Javid leads PJAK, a branch of the PKK. He rejects the terrorist label. Speaking from his base in northern Iraq, he says the decades-long fight has been necessary.

“We have no doubt that we have to continue what we do, and that to achieve freedom we have to fight, and this is an acceptable form of defending our rights and our lives," he said.

Turkey and Iran have mounted a backlash. To them, the PKK and PJAK are terrorist groups. PKK militants⁴ often attack Turkish security forces in this southeastern part of Turkey.

Turkey’s ruling AK party spokesman, Huseyin Celik, defends a recent government crackdown on anyone suspected of working with the PKK, even if the link is indirect.

"I don't know if bin⁵ Laden⁶ killed anyone in person, but he was the leader of a terrorist group. We should look at terrorism and how we define it. If you consider a terrorist only as someone pulling the trigger, that would not be right, because terrorism includes those who are financing it, providing human resources and who [are] protecting them," he said.

But Kurds say violence breeds violence. And civilians⁷ in the northern Iraq autonomous⁸ area of Kurdistan say they are bearing the brunt of Iranian and Turkish military efforts to put an end to the PKK and PJAK .

Villagers say they are caught in the crossfire⁹. These families were forced to leave their homes. They now depend on United Nations aid.

Iraq Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh is prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region.

He says Kurdistan is against the use of the territory as a staging post for violence, and war is not the answer.

"Unilateral military actions won’t do. They are futile¹⁰, they cannot solve this problem. There has to be a political track at the end of the day to address the root causes of this problem," he said.

Without a political solution, the fight in the mountains along the borders of Iran.

Iraq and Turkey will likely continue. And more will die.

1 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

2 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。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

5 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

6 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

9 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

10 futile   

adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的

参考例句：

• They were killed,to the last man,in a futile attack.因为进攻失败，他们全部被杀，无一幸免。
• Their efforts to revive him were futile.他们对他抢救无效。