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Zebari: Military operation against PKK no
long-term solution
5.7.2006
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ANKARA - Visiting
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said yesterday
that launching a military operation against members
of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based
in Kurdistan Region (northern Iraq) could only
provide a short-term solution to the PKK issue,
offering the idea that an eventual resolution to the
issue should be political.
In an interview with CNN-Türk, Zebari said that the
PKK has aimed at being involved in a political
process after the capture of its now-jailed leader
Abdullah Öcalan.
“We have also encouraged this process. We said that
there should be a political resolution. Finding a
political resolution will be in the interest of
Turkey.” |
Hoshyar Zebari, Iraqi foreign minister |
When asked whether the
PKK -- which is listed as terror organization by the
European Union and the United States as well as by
Turkey -- has now turned into a political party,
Zebari said:
“There is a change in the PKK's goals, however, the
PKK is not considered a political entity in Iraq.”
PKK-linked party blames Turkey for closure of Erbil-Kurdistan
office:
A political party known to be close to the PKK
blamed the Turkish government for closure of a party
office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, reported
the Doğan News Agency yesterday.
Faik Gulphi, the chairman of Iraq's Kurdistan
Democratic Solution Party (PGDK), told the agency
that they have not yet received any official
information from local Iraqi officials concerning
the closure of the party office in Arbil on Sunday
night.
Yet, the agency reported, citing sources from
security officials in Erbil, that seven members of
the PGDK were arrested suspected of being members of
a terrorist organization.
Gulphi told the agency that the closure of the
office came as a result of Turkey's pressure on the
Iraqi government. He admitted that his party had
relations with the PKK, “likewise it had with the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP).”
In August 2005, the PGDK received public attention
after Turkish media reported the opening of a PGDK
office in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, adorned
with PKK flags and posters of its imprisoned leader
Abdullah Öcalan.
Ankara then reiterated its calls for U.S. and Iraqi
authorities to close down the organization that it
sees as affiliated to the PKK.
Turkey urged Iraqi and U.S. authorities to ban the
PGDK before the Jan. 30, 2005 elections in Iraq, but
the Turkish appeals were unproductive and the party
participated in the elections.
From 1991, the KDP president of the Iraqi Kurdistan
autonomous region Massoud Barzani ruled Erbil and
Dohuk, while rival Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's
PUK ruled in Sulaimaniyah.
News reports about the raid on the PGDK office
coincided with a senior level visit from Iraq to
Turkey as Zebari of the KDP on Monday held talks in
Ankara with his counterpart, Abdullah Gül.
Doğan noted in its report yesterday that flags and
posters on the PGDK office were removed by security
officials and that the press was not allowed to take
photographs of the building.
turkishdailynews com.tr
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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