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Turkish premier plays down tough army line
on Kurds
16.10.2006 |
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ANKARA, October
16,-- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
in remarks published Monday, played down the army's
vow to fight Kurdish rebels to the last "armed
terrorist" as too ambitious, and impossible to
achieve.
His statement appeared to hint at disagreements
between the government and the military on how to
respond to a unilateral truce the rebels called on
October 1.
General Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the general staff,
had said "the Turkish armed forces... will maintain
the struggle against terrorism until not even a
single armed terrorist is left," shortly after the
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced
the ceasefire.
"That statement is too ambitious... No one in the
world has succeeded in doing that," Erdogan was
quoted as saying in an interview to be aired late
Monday on the CNN-Turk and Kanal D television
channels. |
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister |
Excerpts of the interview were published in the
mass-selling daily Hurriyet, which belongs to the
same media group.
The rebels "may keep quiet or go passive, but (this
will not mean) they are finished off," Erdogan said.
He also welcomed as "positive" a recent suggestion
by an opposition leader that PKK rebels be given an
opportunity to engage in politics as a means of
encouraging them to abandon their armed campaign.
Erdogan hinted, however, that this would apply only
to PKK members who remained uninvolved in armed
action.
He ruled out a general amnesty for the group, which
Kurdish activists say would encourage it to lay down
its arms.
"An amnesty is absolutely not on the government's
agenda," Erdogan said. "I believe no opposition
party in parliament has a different opinion on
that."
Shortly after the PKK ceasefire, Erdogan had said
the army would continue to be "operational," but "if
the terrorist organization keeps its word, no
operation will be undertaken without reason."
Since the truce, one soldier and two PKK militants
have died in two separate clashes in southeast
Turkey and two other soldiers were killed Saturday
in a landmine explosion blamed on the rebels.
The PKK, classified a terrorist group by Turkey, the
European Union and the United States, has fought for
Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984.
The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
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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