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Iraq
will not allow Turkish military forces to enter Iraq's Kurdistan
territories,, interior ministry says |
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Iraq will not allow Turkish military
forces to enter Iraq's Kurdistan territories
10.10.2007
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October
10, 2007
Baghdad,-- Iraq will not allow Turkish
military forces to enter into the Iraqi territories
to hunt down members of the banned Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) without an official approval from the
Iraqi government, the Interior Ministry said on
Wednesday.
The Iraqi government warned Turkey against making an
incursion into Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq'.
"The security agreement signed between the two
countries last month envisages a security border
agreement, cooperation in fighting terrorism and the
exchange of information," the Director of the
national command center General Abdul Karim Khalaf
al-Kenani said.
Turkey signed last month a security agreement with
Iraq regarding the joint cooperation in fighting
"terrorism," but the agreement does not explicitly
stipulate Turkey's right to enter into the Iraqi
territories to hunt down PKK members in northern
Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed last
August with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip
Erdogan a memorandum of understanding on security
cooperation that led to the current agreement.
Iraqi and Turkish interior ministers also signed an
agreement within this framework.
Turkey says that thousands of PKK fighters are using
northern Iraq as a base to launch their attacks
against Turkey.
It also accused the Kurdish government of supporting
PKK by weapons and ammunitions.
The northern Iraqi borders have been a scene of
tension and repeated Turkish artillery shelling.
A total of 13 Turkish soldiers were killed last
Sunday in a raid by gunmen, believed to be members
of the PKK on a military site near Shernak city,
southeast of Turkey. The Turkish army responded by
launching wide scale crackdown operation to hunt
down the perpetrators for its part, the U.S. warned
Turkey against making an incursion into Kurdistan in
northern Iraq.
"If they have a problem, they need to work together
to resolve it and I am not sure that unilateral
incursions are the way to go, the way to resolve the
issue," said State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack.
The warning came in the wake of the Sunday's attack.
The U.S. said it was committed to working with both
Turkey and Iraq to combat the PKK fighters which is
believed to be behind the attacks.
The United States Tuesday
warned Turkey against a
unilateral incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan
in pursuit of separatist PKK
ethnic Kurds, after Ankara said it would authorize
such an operation if it deemed necessary.
There are fears both in Baghdad and Washington that
a military operation by Turkey could destabilize
northern Iraq. Press reports have indicated the
Turkish government was seeking parliamentary
approval for a possible cross-border military
operation to hunt down PKK fighters in Iraq's
Kurdistan.
VOI
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