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Turkey asks Iraq to blacklist Kurdish PKK
rebels 20.9.2006
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ANKARA, September
20, -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has asked the Iraqi government to list as terrorists
Kurdish rebels who use bases in northern Iraq to
launch attacks across the border in Turkey, his
office said Wednesday.
The demand was among measures Erdogan asked his
Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki to take against the
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in a
letter dated September 11, the statement said.
"Erdogan has conveyed to his counterpart Turkey's
strong expectation that concrete measures will be
put into place with determination in the shortest
time," it added.
The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Ankara as
well as the European Union and the United States.
Among Erdogan's demands were the closing of all PKK-affiliated
offices in Iraq, a measure which Baghdad announced
Tuesday it will take.
The Turkish leader also asked that the PKK rebels be
stopped from penetrating the border into Turkey.
Thousands of PKK rebels have found a safe haven in
Kurdish-held northern Iraq since 1999 when the group
declared a unilateral ceasefire and moved out of
Turkey following the arrest of its leader Abdullah
Ocalan.
Turkey has repeatedly complained that Iraq and the
United States are too passive in the face of PKK
rebels, who have been using bases in northern Iraq
for mounting increasing attacks against Turkish
targets across the border since they called off the
truce in 2004.
Turkey charges that PKK rebels enjoy unrestricted
movement in northern Iraq and are easily able to
obtain weapons and explosives.
It has for long pressed Iraqi and US officials to
arrest leading PKK members based there.
But both Baghdad and Washington have been reluctant
to crack down on the rebels, arguing that they are
swamped by violence in other parts of the country.
Growing impatient, Ankara has even threatened a
cross-border operation to attack PKK camps in Iraq,
a move which Washington has opposed on the grounds
that joint action by Iraq, Turkey and the United
States would produce better results.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984
when the PKK picked up arms for Kurdish self-rule in
Turkey's southeastern corner.
AFP
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 officially 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"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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