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Tamil Eelam / தமிழ் ஈழம் / tamiḻ īḻam

File:Flag of Tamil Eelam.png File:Coat of arms of Tamil Eelam.png Flag Coat of Arms
Anthem:
Political status	Unrecognized de facto quasi-independent state
Languages	Tamil (de facto official) English
Capital	Kilinochchi, legislative capital; Vanni, commercial capital
Largest City	Jaffna
Government	Marxist
President	Velupillai Pirapaharan[1]
Independence	No official declaration
Area	19,509 km² claimed[2] 6,600–9,750 km² administered (40–50% of claimed area)
Population (of claimed area) |-	Currency	Does not have its own currency
Time zone	UTC +6:00
Calling Code	94

Tamil Eelam (Tamil: தமிழ் ஈழம், tamiḻ īḻam) is the name given by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), to the independent state which they desire in the Northern and Eastern portions within the sovereign nation of Sri Lanka. Ilaṅkai (இலங்கை) and Īḻam (ஈழம்) are both Tamil names for the entire island.

Tamil Eelam is only recognized as an independent state by the LTTE. The LTTE administers around 40 to 50% of the land claimed for Tamil Eelam which is illegal by Sri Lankan law. These include the entire districts of Kilinochchi and Mullaiththeevu, most of Mannar, Batticaloa and Vavuniya districts and parts of Trincomalee and Amparai districts. Under Sri Lankan law it is illegal to recognise any part of the island as a separate state and hence the LTTE has been unsuccessfully fighting for independence for over 2 decades.

The portion of Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka under the control of the LTTE is run as a de facto quasi-independent state, with its own supreme court,^[3] police force,^[4] army, navy (the Sea Tigers), air force (biased citation - unverifiable),^[5] intelligence agency, and even a central bank,^[6] although these institutions are not formally recognized by the Sri Lankan government or any other international organisation. The Sri Lankan government maintains that these are fascists organisations run by the LTTE to give the impression of a separate state although they do not function as normal institutions^[7].It is dependent on electricity, water, telephone and all commodity supplies from the government of Sri Lanka, supplied through the A9 highway from the SriLankan tax payers money. It does not have its own currency and uses the Sri Lankan rupee. The LTTE has often accused the government of imposing embargos on essential goods, which it claims "causes distress" to the civilians. It does not have its own airport and foreign travellers must go through the Colombo airport and go through Srilankan customs to arrive in the areas claimed as Tamil Eelam. The seas around the areas claimed as Tamil Eelam are completely controlled by the Srilankan Navy although the LTTE operates a small naval fleet from hidden locations.

The concept of Eelam or homeland is a central issue in the Sri Lankan conflict that has been under way for more than two decades. It was first proposed by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) in 1976. The TULF was a coalition of Tamil parties who campaigned in the 1977 elections for an independent state for Tamils in Sri Lanka. In the 1977 elections the TULF was elected to parliament from the northern and eastern provinces. In order to counter separatist tendencies, the government added a new clause to the constitution in 1978 requiring all MPs to pledge allegiance to the unity of the state, which resulted in the boycott of the parliament by the TULF. A number of militant groups then emerged fighting for an independent state.

As used by both the TULF and the militant groups, Tamil Eelam has only referred to the northeasterly portions of Sri Lanka (principally, the districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Puttalam, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Amparai claimed by Tamils as being their traditional homeland. Some of the early militant groups such as the EPRLF, however, adhered to a wider concept of Eelam, by which they meant all parts of the island of Sri Lanka with a Tamil majority, including the upcountry districts with an estate Tamil majority, traditionally part of the Sinhalese heartland. For all practical purposes today, though, the demand for an independent state is limited to the northern and eastern provinces.

From 1948 to 2002 there have been approximately 38 militant groups who have at one time or another fought for the Tamil Eelam's independence. This number includes the better known groups such as the LTTE (also known as the Tamil Tigers), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), and also lesser-known groups such as Tamil Eelam Army (TEA), Ilankai Freedom Tamil Army (FTA), and Socialist Revolutionary Social Liberation (SRSL).

• Flag of Tamil Eelam
• Eelam
• Black July
• Sri Lankan civil war
• Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups

• Official News site of LTTE - English
• Official News site of LTTE - Tamil
• Eelam Tamil News Portal - Tamil
• Eelam
• LTTE Peace Secretariat
• Justice of Tamileelam
• Customs Tamileelam
• Bank Of Tamileelam
• Voice of Tigers
• TTN - Tamil Television Network
• 24 Hour News Updates
• Tamil Net
• Tamil Rehabilitation Organization
• Vanni Tech
• Info Eelam
• Tamil Nation
• for tamil news
• TamilWeek
• Sangam.org
• Tamoul.net (french)
• Tamilpress (dutch)
• Unarvukal.com
• About Tamil Eelam
• www.eelamstore.com