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Dr.Barham: We are planning a new phase
against PKK organization 1.8.2006
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ANKARA - August
1, -- Neighboring Iraq's deputy prime minister,
Dr.Barham Salih, said his government is planning a
new phase against PKK organization based within
their borders.
Salih, who is a senior member of President Jalal
Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) --
accompanied by the ministers of finance, petrol,
planning and national security -- evaluated the
developments of the last four months at a press
conference, the Dogan News Agency (DHA) reported
yesterday.
"We know that these organizations are threatening
not only us but also our neighbors," Salih was
quoted as saying by DHA, in an apparent reference to
Turkey's uneasiness concerning the presence of
members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
in Kurdistan (northern part of Iraq). |
Dr.Barham Salih, Iraq's deputy prime minister |
"We will struggle against terror not only for the
security of Kurdistan-Iraq but also for the security
of the entire region, and moreover for the security
of the world," Salih added.
The Iraqi deputy prime minister's remarks came
following a Turkish news report over the weekend
which said that Iraqi Kurdish leaders have called on
PKK members to lay down arms or face isolation in
their mountain camps.
The call on Kurdish leaders is part of a
comprehensive effort by Turkey to "bring the PKK
members down from mountains" that authorities have
been working on for about a year, Sabah newspaper
said.
At yesterday's press conference Salih also called on
entire world -- particularly neighboring countries –
to extend their support for Iraq's improvement.
"We are not asking for humanitarian aid from states;
we are expecting them to play an active role for our
improvement and for maintaining an environment of
trust in the country," he said, noting that Iraq's
improvement including building an environment of
trust would benefit all countries in the region. He
stressed that Iraq needs the support of its
neighbors in particular.
The report last weekend by Sabah said that Iraqi
President Talabani, a Kurd, and Massoud Barzani,
President of Kurdistan semi-autonomous region in
Iraq, were being pressed by the United States and
politicians of Kurdish origin in Turkey-Kurdistan
(Southern Turkey) to come up with a strategy against
the PKK.
The politicians have told Talabani that the "Kurdish
issue" in Turkey could not be resolved through
violence and made clear that the PKK did not
represent the Kurds in Turkey.
Iraqi Kurds, in turn, have told the PKK leadership
in Kurdistan (northern Iraq) that the group's camps
would be surrounded by Kurdish peshmerga forces and
that PKK members would be blocked from getting food
from neighboring residential areas, from accessing
Iraqi-Kurdish hospitals in the region and from
setting up offices in Kurdistani (northern Iraqi)
cities, said the report.
Both Talabani and Barzani have spoken out against a
possible Turkish military intervention in Kurdistan
(northern Iraq) aimed at cracking down on the PKK
camps.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984,
when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the
European Union and the United States
According to payemaner news, Dr. Barham and an Iraqi
delegation arrived Turkey late Monday, July 31.
turkishdailynews com.tr
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