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Iraqi Kurdistan president rules out war
between PKK, Turkey
27.10.2007 |
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October
27, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',--
Iraq's Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani ruled out
war between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
and said in a TV interview that Iraqi Kurds are not
involved in the struggle between the Turkish
government and Turkey's Kurdish PKK separatists.
"There is some progress towards pacification. Turks
have failed to militarily solve this crisis for 23
years. They have to be aware that a political
solution is the logical step now," Barzani told al-Arabiya
TV yesterday, ruling out a traditional war in the
Kurdistan region.
"Iraqi Kurds are not part of the current struggle
between the Turkish government and the PKK, which is
unwelcome by the Kurdistan region," Barzani
indicated.
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Massoud Barzani, the President of the autonomous Regional
Government of Kurdistan 'Iraq' |
Describing the recent escalation of events as an
"indication of the Turkish government's failure to
resolve its domestic political problem with the PKK,"
Barzani said, "Turks will solve the crisis if they
seek a political solution."
Expressing his sympathy with the Kurdish cause,
Barzani said, "This does not justify PKK's
activities and their use of violence." "There are
over 50 million Kurds (all over the world). Could
their rights be abolished because of accusations of
terrorism against the PKK?" Barzani wondered.
www.ekurd.net
When asked why Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces did
not expel Kurdish militants from the region, Barzani
said that Turkey asked Iraqi Kurds to do something
that it failed to achieve itself.
"The PKK does not have any base, camp or office in
any inhabited Kurdish city or village. If we send
our Peshmerga forces to PKK's bases in Kurdistan's
mountain areas, they will flee to Iranian or Turkish
territories," according to the Kurdistan president.
Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops along the
frontier in preparation for a cross-border operation
to crush about 3,000 guerrillas of the PKK, most
recently blamed for attacks that killed 15 Turkish
soldiers over two weeks ago.
The Turkish parliament approved a memorandum
forwarded by the government allowing the Turkish
army to hunt down members of the Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)., in Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq'. Only 19 out of 555 legislators in
the Turkish parliament voted against the proposal.
Turkey demanded the Iraqi government to hand over
all PKK members as a prerequisite for solving the
crisis and accused the regional government of lack
of cooperation to combat PKK's activities in the
Kurdistan region.
Barzani blamed some officials in the central Iraqi
government, whom he said "are acting as if they were
employed by the Turkish government." He further
termed the stance of the Iraqi prime minister, the
parliament and the presidency council as "positive."
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
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