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US in talks with Iraq over Turkish Kurdish
rebels: ambassador
29.5.2006
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DIYARBAKIR,
Kurdistan-Turkey, May 27, 2006 (AFP) - The
United States has started talks with the new Baghdad
government on "effective action" against Turkish
Kurdish rebels holed up in northern Iraq, the US
ambassador said here Friday.
Ankara has long been frustrated by US and Iraqi
reluctance to clamp down on bases of the separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the mountains of
northern Iraq, from where the rebels infiltrate
neighboring Turkey to engage in anti-government
violence.
"We now have a new, stronger government in Baghdad.
We believe that this can provide a good basis to
work more effectively together," Ambassador Ross
Wilson said during a visit to Diyarbakir, the main
city of the predominantly Kurdish southeast.
"We have already been discussing with Iraqi
authorities our strong concerns about the PKK and
the need for effective action to deal with its
presence in northern Iraq," he said.
Wilson reiterated Washington's commitment to support
Ankara's struggle against the group, blacklisted as
a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European
Union and the United States.
The issue has become of increasing importance for
Ankara in recent months as clashes have escalated
between the PKK and the army and a series of bomb
attacks in urban centers has been blamed on the
group.
Thousands of armed PKK militants have found refuge
in northern Iraq since 1999, when the group declared
a unilateral ceasefire after the capture of its
leader, Abdullah Ocalan. The truce was called off in
June 2004.
Turkey has massed troops along the border with Iraq
to stop what it says is increasing infiltration by
the rebels since the arrival of spring.
During a visit to Ankara last month, US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice warned Ankara against
cross-border operations and called for renewed
trilateral meetings between Washington, Baghdad and
Ankara to discuss measures against the PKK after the
new Iraqi government took office.
The Kurdish conflict has claimed more than 37,000
lives since the PKK took up arms for Kurdish
self-rule in the southeast in 1984.
AFP
Southeastern Turkey: North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
Northern Iraq: South Kurdistan (Kurdistan-Iraq)
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