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Iraqi VP Urges Caution Toward Kurds
17.10.2007 |
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Iraq
needs time to curb Turkish Kurd PKK rebels, says
Iraqi Vice President
October
17, 2007
ANKARA, -- Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi,
on an emergency visit here Tuesday, urged Turkish
officials to resolve their problems with Kurdish PKK
separatists on Turkey's border through diplomacy
rather than military action.
"A political solution must be given priority to
resolve this critical issue," Hashimi told reporters
before meetings with Turkey's prime minister,
president and foreign minister. "We can understand
Turkey's anger, but what I'm aiming to achieve
during my visit is a common understanding."
Al-Hashemi on Tuesday urged the Iraqi and Kurdistani
governments to put an end to the activities of the
Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK), banned in Turkey, in
Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
In pre-departure statements, the Sunni official said
that "the Iraqi and Kurdish governments have to put
an end to the PKK activities."
Al-Hashemi asked Turkey for time to tackle Kurd
rebels based in northern Iraq, Anatolia news agency
reported Wednesday.
"Give us time to join forces with Turkey to tackle
this problem, which harms the national security of
both countries," Anatolia quoted Hashemi as saying.
"If the Iraqi government fails to meet its
responsibilities, Turkey will be justified in doing
what is necessary to protect its security
interests."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told
members of his ruling party Tuesday that he will
demand that Iraq take greater responsibility for
curbing the activities of the Kurdistan Workers'
Party, known as the PKK, which has been operating
freely in Iraq since the U.S.-led liberation that
ousted Saddam Hussein. |
Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (L) and
Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi (R) pose for
the media before a meeting in Ankara October 16,
2007 Reuters
Turkish President Abdullah Gul, right, and Iraq's
Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi are seen during
their meeting at the Cankaya Palace in Ankara,
Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007 AP |
"The central government in Iraq and the [Kurdish]
regional government in northern Iraq must put a
thick wall between themselves and the terrorist
organization," Erdogan said. "Those who are unable
to distance themselves from terrorism cannot avoid
being adversely affected by the struggle against
terrorism."
Erdogan reportedly is asking Iraq to close PKK
offices in northern Iraq and Baghdad, turn the
group's top leaders over to Turkey and block access
to the PKK's financial accounts in Iraq.
The Iraqi official denounced the
Turkish shelling
of Kurdish villages in Kurdistan region, mainly
during Eid al-Fitr.
The Turkish forces had opened artillery fire at
Iraqi villages in the border districts of Zakho and
al-Imadiya more than once during the past few days.
On Saturday, Turkish forces fired more than 250
shells for nearly two hours. The shelling, which
caused severe damage, has occurred on the pretext of
attacking the strongholds of the PKK, a party that
is outlawed in Turkey.
The Turkish parliament is expected Wednesday to give
Erdogan's government the authority to launch
military operations into northern Iraq to attack PKK
rebels and their strongholds.
Erdogan said Tuesday that the parliamentary
authorization would not prompt immediate military
action. He said an operation would be ordered "if
there is a need, at the right time, at the right
place and in a manner to obtain the best result."
U.S. and Iraqi officials have urged Turkey to
refrain from cross-border military operations,
fearing an invasion would create chaos in one of the
few relatively stable regions of Iraq.
"Any unilateral action by Turkey in violation of
Iraqi sovereignty will have very grave consequences
to Iraqi stability and to stability in the region as
a whole," Barham Salih, an Iraqi deputy prime
minister who is a Kurd, told BBC radio. "If Turkey,
as a neighbor of Iraq, allows itself the right to
intervene militarily in Iraq, what is there to
prevent other neighbors from intervening?"
A series of PKK attacks have killed 31 Turkish
soldiers, police officers and civilians over the
last two weeks. On Tuesday, a Turkish soldier was
killed by a land mine in the southeastern province
of Bingol. Turkish news media quoted unnamed
security sources blaming the PKK for laying the
mine.
The PKK, which the United States and Europe have
listed as a terrorist organization, has been
fighting for Kurdish self-rule in the mainly
southeastern of Turkey for the past 23 years.
Turkish military incursions into northern Iraq in
the 1980s and 1990s failed to eliminate the PKK
fighters. The PKK has conducted attacks in the
southeast and across Turkey. Iraqi Kurds says
previously we saw the Turkish army invading the
region under the pretext of chasing the PKK and this
army did nothing.
Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using a Kurdish
separatist PKK rebel group as an excuse to invade
Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent the establishment
of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish autonomous region
in 'northern Iraq'. Ankara is anxious to prevent the
emergence of a Kurdish state in Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq', fearing this could fan separatism
among its own large Kurdish population in southeast
Turkey. Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic
Kurds.
www.ekurd.net
Human rights organizations have criticized Turkey
for its treatment of its Kurdish minority and its
efforts to suppress Kurdish culture.
Ahmet Turk, the chairman of the Democratic Society
Party, a pro-Kurdish political party, said Tuesday
that military options alone would not resolve
Turkey's problems with the PKK.
"We should also discuss social, cultural and
economic dimensions," he said after a party meeting,
according to the Anatolian news agency. "Let's
launch initiatives to avoid a cross-border
operation. We should behave logically and leave
aside our feelings."
Iraqi president Jalal Talabani last
July said
"Invading Kurdistan will not be a picnic"
washingtonpost com | Reuters | VOI
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
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.
Others estimate over 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.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
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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