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Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer pressed Iraq's
president, Ghazi al-Yawer, in talks Monday to act
against the rebels. "I told Mr. al-Yawer that we're
expecting a new Iraq not to shelter terrorist
organizations," he said.
"We cannot tolerate or allow any group or formation
that is posing a threat to the security of our
neighbors," al-Yawer said at a press conference with
Sezer.
However, "good neighborly relations mean not
mingling into internal affairs of the other," al-Yawer
added.
Al-Yawer is in Turkey mainly to discuss security and
trade - a key visit that comes just weeks after
Iraqi militants took Turkish truck drivers hostage
as part of a surge of kidnappings of foreigners.
The Kurdish rebels have been fighting for autonomy
for Turkey's 12 million Kurds, a decades-long war
that that has claimed some 37,000 lives. In the
past, Turkey's military has waged incursions into
northern Iraq to wipe out rebel bases, and has left
open the possibility of a future incursion into Iraq
to take action against the Kurds. Turkey currently
has some 1,500 troops, backed by tanks, inside
northern Iraq to monitor rebel movements.
Sezer also urged al-Yawer to take necessary safety
measures for Turkish truckers and workers in Iraq.
"We're very concerned about attacks and kidnappings
targeting our citizens, either working or carrying
goods to Iraq," Sezer said. "Effective measures
should be taken as soon as possible."
In the past two months, militants in Iraq have
executed one Turkish worker in Iraq and kidnapped
several other truck drivers, prompting some Turkish
companies to stop doing business with the U.S.-led
military in Iraq.
Turkish and Iraqi officials were expected during al-Yawer's
visit to discuss new routes in Iraq for the safe
passage of some 2,000 Turkish trucks, ferrying goods
daily to the Iraqi people and the U.S. military.
Most of the two countries' trade has been conducted
in cross-border shipments.
An Iraqi-Turkish oil pipeline has been operating
only sporadically because of violence in Iraq.
Sezer reiterated Ankara's fears that Iraq's Kurds
would take over the oil-rich Iraqi province of
Kirkuk, home to tens of thousands of ethnic Turks.
"A group's attempts to take over Kirkuk would put
Kirkuk's and Iraq's stability and peace in danger,"
Sezer said.
http://www.timesdaily.com
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