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Kurdish guerrillas in Turkey say they
won't disarm without political solution
25.8.2006
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Qandil Mountain Range,
Kurdistan-Iraq , -- A leader of Kurdish guerrillas
battling Turkey's government said in an interview
his forces will not give in to U.S. pressure to
disarm without a "political project" that fulfils
their calls for autonomy.
The Kurdistan Workers party, or PKK, invited a group
of journalists to meet with party officials late
Wednesday in the rugged, isolated Qandil Mountain in
Kurdistan (Iraq's northeastern corner) where the
group is based.
"We will remain in the Qandil Mountains area and any
demand to disarm without a political project is
tantamount to suicide for us," said PKK co-president
Murat Karayilan, who has seldom met in person with
the news media.
Kurdish guerrillas "will not repeat the mistake" of
offering an unconditional ceasefire, Karayilan told
the reporters, who were brought to the clandestine
site following an hour-long ride on winding mountain
roads aboard a bus. |
Murat Karayilan, second from left. |
The PKK called a unilateral ceasefire after the
capture of its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in 1999, but
resumed fighting in June 2004, accusing Turkey of
not responding in kind and refusing calls for
dialogue.
The group has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey's
largely Kurdish southeast, a conflict that has left
some 37,000 dead since clashes began in 1984.
But in recent months, the conflict has escalated
after the group, which is listed as a terrorist
organization by the United States and the European
Union, renewed its offensive against the Turkish
military, killing at least 15 Turks in the southeast
in the first half of July.
The PKK charges the Turkish military has been
shelling villages in Qandil Mountain, killing
civilians and displacing thousands of villagers.
Karayilan urged the United States to intervene.
"We respect the American calls for disarmament but
the Americans must intervene to come up with a
political solution for the Kurdish problem in
Turkey," he said, sitting in a room plastered with
photos of Ocalan and PKK flags.
"The Turkish military deployment on the border
should stop, the attacks against us should come to
an end."
He added if the Turkish government wants to end the
crisis, it should "show signs of goodwill" by at
least improving the conditions of Ocalan's detention
and starting negotiations.
Last month, the Turkish prime minister said his
country's military was moving forward in drafting
plans to sending forces into Iraq to clear out the
bases of the Kurdish guerillas. But he also added
officials were holding talks with the United States
and Iraq in an attempt to defuse tensions.
A Turkish cross-border operation would likely
inflame tension between Turkey and the United States
and destabilize one of the few calm areas of Iraq.
Karayilan said his 6,000 fighters will not leave the
strategic border area and if they did, it would be
taken over by Ansar al-Islam, a radical Islamic
group linked to al-Qaida.
"We should be thanked for maintaining security in
this rugged, porous border area that's very
difficult to control," he said, explaining Ansar
al-Islam has been imposing a strict brand of Islam
on villages along the border with Iran which served
as their base.
"We are not terrorists...we're preventing
international terrorism from infiltrating Kurdistan
and Iraq."
AP
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". These
political implications are claimed to involve
primarily the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in
Turkey's current political scene.
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
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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