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Iraqi FM: Iraq wants Kurdish PKK
separatists to leave soon
18.10.2007 |
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October
18, 2007
BAGHDAD, -- Iraq wants Kurdish PKK
separatist guerrillas based in Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq' to leave as soon as possible, Iraq’s
Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Thursday.
Zebari said he did not expect Turkey to launch a
major military operation in Iraq anytime soon,
saying that if it were to attack it would probably
be limited air strikes on suspected Kurdish Workers
Party (PKK) positions.
“This party is not present with the approval of the
Iraqi government or the government of the Kurdish
region. The Iraqi government has asked them and
other military groups to leave Iraq,” Zebari said.
“Absolutely, with no doubt, our formal request is
that they leave Iraqi soil and leave Iraq for its
people and do not bring us more problems than we’re
already suffering. Kurdistan is a stable area and it
is not in the interests of any party, or any side,
to threaten its stability.” |
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari |
Asked if the government was giving the PKK a
timetable to leave, Zebari said: “As soon as
possible.”
Zebari said the Iraqi government was not comfortable
with a Turkish parliamentary vote this week giving
its military permission to cross into Kurdistan
'northern Iraq' to hunt down PKK members.
“The Turkish decision does not serve Iraqi-Turkish
relations, especially as it gives Turkish forces the
authorisation to violate the sovereignty of another
country,” Zebari said.
”The Iraqi government is not comfortable with such
decision,” he said. “This permission is a sword
hanging over the neck of Iraq and its unity and
sovereignty and we take it seriously.”
Reuters
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