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Kurdish representatives excluded from
Iraqi-Turkish talks 27.10.2007 |
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October
27, 2007
Baghdad, -- A leading member of the Kurdistan
Coalition (KC) said on Friday the two
representatives of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)
and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) were
excluded from the Iraqi-Turkish talks over the fate
of the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
ruling out their participation in the meeting that
has been held on Friday with Turkey's military
General Staff later.
"At the request of General Yasar Buyukanit, head of
Turkey's military General Staff, Emad Ahmed, from
the PUK, and Sevien Dziy, from the KDP, were
excluded from the talks between the visiting Iraqi
delegation and Turkish officials," MP Mahmoud Othman
said.
"Turkey's military General Staff refused their
participation or even to receive them," Othman
explained.
He ruled out their participation in the talks with
the general staff earlier in the day.
The lawmaker condemned the Turkish decision,
describing it as "unsuitable behavior" against the
Iraqi delegation.
Ankara had rejected having a dialogue with the
government Iraqi Kurdistan region, asserting that a
dialogue should be exclusively with the Iraqi and
U.S. sides.
Ankara has never, and still does not, recognize
Iraq's Kurdistan regional government (KRG) and
refuses to meet with its representatives in any
official capacity. That reflects Ankara's fear that
any international respect shown to the autonomous
Iraqi Kurdistan region would only embolden Turkey's
own Kurdish minority to seek similar home-rule
status.
www.ekurd.net
Iraqi Defense Ministry Spokesman Mohammad al-Askari
had said earlier that the talks between Iraq and
Turkey over the threat posed by the presence of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases in northern
Iraq led to positive results.
Turkey rejected on Friday Iraqi proposals to stop
Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels making
cross-border attacks as too little, too late and
said it remained in a "constant state of alert."
A visit for crisis talks to Ankara by a high-ranking
Iraqi delegation led by its defence and national
security ministers was "a positive effort ...
well-intentioned and sincere," the Turkish foreign
ministry said.
"However ... we see that the Iraqi delegation has
come with ideas that will take a long time to
implement. The time factor is very important."
"Turkey," it said, "expects urgent and determined
measures in the fight against the PKK (Kurdistan
Workers' Party) terror organisation."
Turkey says PKK rebels, who have been waging a
bloody campaign for self-rule in southeast Turkey
since 1984, enjoy safe haven in bases in Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq' and it has long complained
about what it calls US and Iraqi inaction.
Iraq's delegation to the talks comprises Minister of
State for National Security Shirwan al-Waili and
Minister of Defense Abdul Qadir al-Ubeidi.
The solution to the problem "must in any case be
political and diplomatic," the Iraqis said.
Iraqi, Turkish and U.S. diplomats have stepped up
efforts to avert a large-scale Turkish incursion
into Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq'.
Iraqi 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'. Turkey feas
this could fan separatism among its own large
Kurdish population in southeast Turkey.
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
VOI | Agencies
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