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Turkey calls for U.S.
action on Kurdish guerrillas
LONDON (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan warned on Thursday he could take
action against Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq if U.S.
forces did not stop the rebels infiltrating across
the border into Turkey.
"At the moment, frankly speaking, we do not see the
efforts by the U.S. that we expect to see. We have
expressed our views to that effect to the
Americans," Erdogan said in an interview with
Britain's Times newspaper.
"There is a time limit. There is a limit to our
tolerance," said Erdogan.
He said Turkey was within its rights under
international law to defend itself from attack and
drew a comparison with U.S. action against
Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
"That mandate is provided for in international law,"
he said.
"If a country, if a people, if a nation are under
threat, that country can do what is necessary under
international law ... we would exercise that right
in the same way as any other country could, would
and did exercise that right."
Turkey has blamed the banned Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK) for a rash of violence in the southeast of the
country and says the guerrillas use bases in
northern Iraq as a launchpad for attacks.
Despite a lull in violence after the capture of PKK
leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999, fighting has
increased sharply since the group called off a
unilateral ceasefire last year.
The PKK has waged an armed campaign for an
independent Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey
since 1984, and more than 30,000 people have been
killed in the fighting.
Turkey has vowed never to negotiate with the PKK and
together with the United States and the European
Union brands the group as a "terrorist
organization."
Ankara fears Kurds might establish an independent
Kurdish state in northern Iraq and that this in turn
could ignite separatism among Kurds in southeastern
Turkey.
U.S. forces in Iraq are heavily committed against a
Sunni Arab insurgency in central areas.
The Iraqi government, which has Kurds in senior
posts, says Turkey must stay out of Iraq.
Reuters
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