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Zebari: Iraq ready to revive talks with
Turkey over Kurdish rebels
3.7.2006
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ANKARA, July 3,
2006 (AFP) , -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar
Zebari said Monday the new Baghdad government is
ready to revive three-way talks with neighboring
Turkey and the United States to discuss measures to
curb Turkish Kurd rebels based in the northern of
his country.
"We discussed the need to re-activate the trilateral
discussions ... on containing the PKK terrorist
activities on the border region," Zebari told
reporters after talks with Turkish counterpart
Abdullah Gul here.
"These will be activated in the near future ... to
be followed by some other measures, hopefully, in
order to reinforce our joint cooperation in this
area," he said.
Ankara has long pressed the United States and
Baghdad to purge northern Iraq of the separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- blacklisted as a
terrorist group by both Ankara and Washington --
whose armed militants have found refuge in the
mountainous region since 1999..
The issue has grown more important for Ankara this
year amid mounting PKK violence, with the army
shifting thousands of troops to the Iraqi border to
stop what it has described as increasing
infiltration of PKK militants.
Much to Ankara's anger and frustration, both Baghdad
and Washington have been reluctant to take military
action against the PKK, arguing that their forces
are swamped by violence in other parts of
conflict-torn Iraq. |
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, right, and
his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari look towards
the cameras as they shake hands before their meeting
in Ankara, Turkey Monday, July 3, 2006. Zebari met
Gul and Turksih Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
on Monday as Iraq sought support of countries in the
region for a national reconciliation plan to end
spiraling violence.
Photo: AP |
During a visit to Ankara in April, US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice warned Turkey against
cross-border operations to pursue the PKK in
northern Iraq and called for the revival of the
trilateral meetings, which have stalled since
January 2005.
Last month, the US ambassador in Turkey said
Washington has started talks with the new Baghdad
government on "effective action" against the PKK.
"It is not possible for the Iraqi government to
allow its territory to be used for acts that
endanger the security of neighboring countries,"
Zebari said Monday.
Gul, for his part, expressed support for a national
reconciliation plan revealed on June 25 by Iraqi
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in a bid to end a
raging anti-US insurgency and sectarian violence.
"We hope the international community and other
friendly nations will also lend their support to
Iraq," Gul said. "Iraq's peace and stability is
important not only for Iraq, but for the whole
region."
A senior Turkish diplomat said Gul proposed to
Zebari a training program for Iraqi policemen in the
southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir.
The two ministers also agreed to open at least two
new border crossing points between the two countries
within three years in a bid to increase bilateral
trade and to invigorate railway transport, the
diplomat said.
Currently, there is only one border gate between
Turkey and Iraq.
The ministers also signed a document envisaging
closer ties between their foreign ministries.
Gul also called for the signing of a bilateral
agreement to fight terrorism and reiterated Turkish
demands for the extradition of two Turkish militants
with suspected links to Al-Qaeda who are wanted over
the four suicide bombings in Istanbul in November
2003, which claimed 63 lives, the diplomat said.
The pair fled to Iraq after the attacks and are
known to have been held in an US-controlled prison
since November 2004.
Zebari also met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
He was scheduled to travel to Istanbul to meet with
Turkish businessmen and open an Iraqi consulate
there before wrapping up his visit Thursday.
AFP
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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