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Kurdish MP urges Iraqi government to adopt
official position on Turkish shelling
16.10.2007 |
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October
16, 2007
Baghdad, -- Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman
on Monday urged the Iraqi central government to
adopt an official position regarding the continued
Turkish shelling of Iraq's Kurdistan region, calling
on the government to defend northern Iraq in case of
any possible Turkish attack.
"The Iraqi government has to adopt an official
position regarding the Turkish shelling," Othman
said.
The Kurdish northern Iraqi borders have been a scene
of tension and repeated Turkish artillery shelling
under the pretext of fighting members of imprisoned
leader Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Kurdish sources said the shelling caused damage in
property and fires in Kurdish forests.
Kurdistan borders forces said on Sunday
Turkish troops fired over 250
artillery shells into areas inside Iraqi Kurdistan
territories, inflicting material losses. |
Dr
Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish legislator, member of the
Kurdistan National Democratic Union |
Turkey claims 3,000 fighters from the Turkish banned
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are using the
mountainous areas of northern Iraq as base to launch
attacks on Turkish targets.
A total of 13 Turkish soldiers were killed last week
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.
"The Kurdistan Coalition is waiting for final
decision of the Turkish government and parliament,
concerning giving the Turkish army the green light
to plunge into northern Iraq territories," Othman
explained.
"If the Turkish parliament approved the decision, it
will be its biggest mistake as it made another
mistake, four years ago, when it rejected U.S.
forces' demand to use its territories in the war to
topple Saddam's regime," he said.
Mahmoud Othman on Saturday
also criticized the recent threats by
the Turkish government to send troops into Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq', urging Baghdad to cancel the
security agreement signed last month with Ankara.
"The security agreement has encouraged Turkey to
increase threats of incursion into northern Iraq,"
MP Mahmoud Othman said.
The Turkish cabinet held a session on Monday led by
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The session is to tackle the memorandum to be
presented by the government to the Parliament on
striking sites of the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK)
in northern Iraq.
The government is to present its memo to the
Parliament Monday for voting Tuesday. MP Othman also
called upon the U.S. side to bear responsibility by
preventing Turkey form sending troops into Kurdistan
'northern Iraq', criticizing, meanwhile, the Iraqi
government's stand as to "consider PKK as a
terrorist party."
"Considering the PKK as a terrorist party will give
Ankara an excuse to crush the Party inside Iraq,"
Othman noted. The Iraqi parliament member also
called upon Turkey to listen to the international
community and honor its obligations under the
recently signed security agreement.
For its part, the U.S. warned Turkey against making
an incursion into Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq'.
In August,
Dr Mahmoud Othman said
Turkey has been committing the crime of terrorism
against the Kurdish people since almost 100 years
and isn't granting them their rights.
VOI
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