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Turkey would not recognise any new states
if Iraq split up
28.1.2007 |
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January 28, 2007
Turkey urged the United States not to leave a power
vacuum when it exits Iraq nor allow the country to
split, saying a divided Iraq would slip into
“endless war” involving all of its neighbours.
“They cannot leave a vacuum behind them,” Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul said during the annual meeting
of the World Economic Forum held in the Alpine ski
resort Davos.
“If Iraq is divided, there will be a real civil war
and all the neighbours will be involved in this,” he
said. “If that happens, there will be another dark
era in Iraqi history, there will be endless war,
civil war.”
Gul said Turkey would not recognise any new states
that might emerge if Iraq were to split up and none
of its neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, wished to
see the country divided. “If there is a division, we
will not recognize any new government in the
region,” he said. “We (Turkey and its neighbours)
are all having the same target: to keep Iraq as
one.”
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has urged
cooperation between the US and Iraq’s neighbours
over a peaceful withdrawal of international forces
from Iraq, saying the countries had a huge stake in
preventing the civil war from spreading.
Separately, Gul urged the U.S. and Iraq to deal with
several thousand PKK rebels that are based in
northern Iraq, saying if they were not brought under
control, Turkey would go in militarily.
“We are expecting the Americans to do it. Either
they have to do this, or if they are not able to do
this, we have to do this. It is so legitimate,” he
said.
Ankara has been urging US forces to crack down on
the Turkish Kurd PKK rebels, who use Kurdish
northern Iraq as a base.
Erdogan has threatened to send troops into Kurdistan
(northern Iraq) to crush the rebels if the US and
Iraqi government forces fail to take action, though
most analysts dismiss the threats as rhetoric to
impress voters.
Reuters
*
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"
Southeast Turkey. The Kurds have no rights in
Turkey.
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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