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PUK official urges PKK to return to Turkey
29.8.2006
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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
A senior member of Iraq's Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK) has expressed that members of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) should leave
Kurdistan (northern Iraq) and return to Turkey,
reported the Dogan News Agency (DHA).
Sadi Ahmed Pire, a member of Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani's PUK, said in an interview with the Erbil-based
Kurdish weekly Medya that his party has had no
relationship with the PKK.
Turkey earlier accused Massoud Barzani, the
president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region
(northern Iraq) , and Talabani's groups of providing
arms, shelter and logistics to the PKK. Ankara says
up to 5,000 PKK members are using Kurdistan
(northern Iraq) as a safe haven.
"Problems created in our region towards Iran and
Turkey's territories are a headache for us. We want
to keep a distance from this headache,” he was
quoted as saying.
When asked about a central government decision for
closing down PKK-linked offices in Kurdistan-Iraq,
Pire described the government's decision as "serious
and important."
"With this decision, the Iraqi government wants to
stay away from unnecessary disagreements with
Turkey. The PKK cannot work against the interests of
Iraq or the Kurdistan region while residing in
Iraq," he said.
"The PKK should continue its activities in Turkey as
a political entity and base its camps there. It
can't launch armed actions there and then return to
Kurdistan,” he added reiterating -- likewise senior
Iraqi Kurdish leaders --that a political solution
should be found to the Kurdish issue in Turkey.
"Turkey has the right to tell the Iraqi government:
‘Either take incidents in the Iraqi Kurdistan region
and borders under your control or open the way for
us so that we can control'." Pire said, urging PUK
and Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) as
well as the regional Kurdish government for
seriously contemplating the issue.
He also made a call to the Turkish government and
said announcing a general amnesty would help solve
the Kurdish issue.
"More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984
when the PKK, blacklisted by Turkey, the United
States and the European Union, took up arms for
self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast
of Turkey.
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".
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
The Kurdish flag flown in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Source: turkishdailynews com.tr
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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