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US envoy: Turkey Kurdish rebels still a
threat despite ceasefire
13.10.2006 |
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ANKARA, October
12, -- Washington welcomes a ceasefire decision by
Iraq-based separatist Kurdish rebels, but still sees
the militants as a security threat to NATO ally
Turkey, a special US envoy said here Thursday.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) "needs
to lay down arms and they need to renounce
violence," retired general Joseph W. Ralston, the US
coordinator with Ankara in the fight against the
rebels, told reporters.
"I am pleased they have done that as a first step,
but that does not eliminate the problem. We still
have the PKK operating in a sanctuary in Iraq," he
said after talks with his Turkish counterpart Edip
Baser.
The PKK, which has been fighting the Turkish army
since 1984, ordered a unilateral ceasefire from
October 1, saying it hoped this would pave the way
for a dialogue to resolve the conflict. |
U.S Retired Gen. Joseph Ralston |
But the truce, like the previous ones called by the
PKK, was quickly rejected by Turkey.
The ceasefire came after a sharp rise in violence by
the PKK, which Turkey says uses neighbouring
northern Iraq as a springbroard for attacks on
Turkish targets across the border.
The news of the first fatality since the truce came
Thursday when officials said a Turkish soldier was
killed in a clash with the southeastern province of
Siirt, and two PKK rebels were killed in separate
fighting in Sirnak province, also in the southeast.
Baser said he and Ralston discussed several
"concrete proposals" against the PKK, including the
closure of the Mahmur refugee camp, near the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Ankara has for years demanded that the UN-controlled
camp, home to thousands of Kurds from Turkey, be
closed down, saying it is controlled by PKK rebels
who prevent families who want to return to their
homes in Turkey from doing so.
Ankara has long pressed the United States and Iraq
to stamp out the PKK presence in Kurdish-held
northern Iraq, where it says the rebels enjoy
unrestricted movement and easily obtain weapons and
explosives.
But the United States and Baghdad have been
reluctant to crack down on the rebels, saying they
are swamped by violence in other parts of the
country.
Washington has argued for other types of measures,
such as cutting off the PKK's finances, before a
military operation.
"The use of force is a very serious issue. It should
not be a first option," said Ralston, a former
supreme commander of NATO. "In the past, I have
recommended the use of force when all other options
have been exhausted."
Growing impatient, Ankara has threatened
cross-border operations against PKK camps in Iraq, a
move Washington opposed on grounds that joint action
by United States, Turkey and Iraq would produce
better results.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984,
when the PKK, classified as a terror organisation by
Turkey, the United States and the European Union,
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast.
AFP
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan".
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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