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Jalal Talabani's office denies reports on
possible hand over of PKK's leaders to Turkey
25.10.2007
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October
25, 2007
Baghdad, -- The office of the Iraqi President
Jalal Talabani denied on Wednesday media reports
suggesting that Talabani pledged to the Turkish
foreign minister to hand over leaders of the Turkish
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
"We repeatedly confirmed that leaders of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are not residing in
the Iraqi Kurdish cities. Rather, they live along
with thousands of PKK's fighters in Mount Qandil and
thus it is not possible to arrest them nor hand them
over to Turkey," Talabani's office said.
On Wednesday,
news agencies quoted a senior
Turkish official as saying that Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani told the Turkish Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan of Baghdad's agreement to "hand
over Turkish rebels to Ankara." Minister Babacan had
arrived on Tuesday morning in Baghdad where he met
with top Iraqi officials to discuss the PKK's
presence in northern Iraq near the borders with
Turkey..
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Iraqi President : Jalal Talabani, a Kurd |
Talabani's office statement also explained that
President Talabani, during a news conference
following meeting the Turkish minister, said that
Iraq will not hand over Iraqi Kurdish leaders "in
response to a question verifying reports that Turkey
asked for the hand over of Iraqi Kurdish leaders
allegedly involved in supporting the PKK's
fighters."
Media reports recently claimed that Turkey asked to
hand over Iraqi Kurdish leaders accused by Ankara to
support the Turkish outlawed PKK.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, on Tuesday,
told reporters "the Iraqi government did not receive
any list of Iraqis wanted by Turkey on charges of
supporting the PKK."
"The Iraqi government only received a wanted list of
PKK's leaders," Zebari explained.
Ankara threatened of a possible military incursion
into northern Iraq to chase fighters of the PKK
after Turkish soldiers were ambushed near the Iraqi
border. 16 soldiers were killed and eight went
missing during the ambush according to the Turkish
army.
The Turkish parliament approved last Wednesday a
memorandum forwarded by the government allowing the
Turkish army to hunt down members of the PKK, in
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'. Only 19 out of 555
legislators in the Turkish parliament voted against
the proposal.
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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