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Former chief of staff tapped as envoy for
countering PKK
29.8.2006
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The United States is
appointing a former commander of allied forces in
Europe as special envoy for countering the Kurdistan
Workers Party. Turkey has been complaining
vigorously about the militant group’s activities
next door in Kurdistan (northern Iraq).
The U.S. envoy is retired Air Force Gen. Joseph
Ralston, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack
said Monday.
“General Ralston will have responsibility for
coordinating U.S. engagement with the government of
Turkey and the government of Iraq to eliminate the
terrorist threat of the PKK and other terrorist
groups operating in Kurdistan (northern Iraq) and
across the Turkey-Iraq border,” McCormack said in a
statement.
PKK stands for the Turkish words for Kurdistan
Workers Party. |
Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston |
The outlawed PKK has led Turkish insurgents since
1984 in a fight for an autonomous Kurdish state in
southeastern Turkey. The idea is anathema to Turkey,
as well as neighboring Iran, Iraq and Syria, all of
which have sizable, potentially restive, Kurdish
populations.
After three PKK attacks killed 15 Turkish soldiers
in July, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
said his military was considering a cross-border
operation aimed at clearing out PKK bases in
northern Iraq unless the United States and the Iraqi
government cracked down on the rebels.
Ralston ended a 37-year Air Force career in 2003
when he retired as commander of the U.S. European
Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO.
He previously was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff in 1996-2000 but withdrew his name from
consideration as chairman in 1997 after a
controversy arose over an earlier adulterous
relationship while he was separated from his wife.
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.
Source: AP | Air Force Times
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
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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