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Iran cool as Turkey warns of PKK strike
29.10.2007
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October
29, 2007
TEHRAN, Iran,-- Turkish Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan warned on Sunday that Turkey
could launch an attack on Turkey's Kurdish PKK
militants in Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' but
failed to win the support of neighbouring Iran for a
military strike.
Babacan said after talks with Iranian counterpart
Manouchehr Mottaki that Ankara had ruled out no
option in its fight against Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) rebels who have carried out a string of
attacks in eastern Turkey.
"We have different instruments. We can use diplomacy
or we can resort to military means," Babacan said in
Tehran. "All of these are on the table."
"The Turkish people have lost their patience... We
are asking all our friends to support us in this
endeavour, our fight against terror," he added.
However Mottaki gave a highly equivocal answer to a
question over whether Iran would support a Turkish
military strike on Kurdistan region 'northern' Iraq
against the militants.
"I think that we will be able to overcome these
small grouplets," he said. "There are various ways
of going about this. We hope our cooperation will
allow us to solve this as soon as possible."
The Iraqi authorities also said Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad agreed with Iraqi Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki that that crisis could still be
solved by diplomacy alone.
"Both leaders agreed the activities of the PKK were
damaging the interests of Iraq, Turkey and Iran but
stressed that military action is not the only option
to deal with it," Maliki's office quoted the leaders
as saying.
Babacan later met Ahmadinejad, who said according to
state media that "the terrorist acts should be ended
through cooperative efforts between regional
nations".
Ahmadinejad said that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki were against
"terrorist acts" and "would do anything to suppress
the terrorists."
But there was no statement of explicit support for a
Turkish military incursion into Kurdistan region
'Iraq'.
Expectations of Turkish military action have mounted
after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
Turkey would launch a military strike when necessary
against Turkey's PKK rebels who have taken sanctuary
in northern Iraq.
Iran has in recent weeks been echoing Turkey's
frustration over the failure of the authorities in
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' to crack down on Turkey's
Kurdish PKK rebels.
The militant Kurdish group PEJAK (Party of Free Life
of Kurdistan), linked to the PKK, has been behind a
string of deadly attacks on security forces in
northwestern Iran in recent months.
PEJAK took up arms for self-rule in the country's
mainly Kurdistan province northwestern of Iran. Half
the members of PEJAK are women.
Iran's Kurdistan, Kermanshah and West Azarbaijan
provinces, which border Kurdistan region 'northern
Iraq', have substantial Kurdish populations.
Iran's military confirmed last month that Tehran has
been shelling Kurdish PEJAK militant bases in
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' to prevent the rebels from
creeping over the border into Iran and carrying out
attacks.
But Tehran knows it needs to tread a fine line in
the crisis.
Relations between Tehran and Ankara have improved
significantly in recent years but Iran will be
seeking to also maintain its strong ties with Iraq's
Shiite-dominated government.
Mottaki added he saw the "hand of the Zionist regime
and the United States" behind the militants and
accused Washington of making secret deals with the
rebels.
Babacan publicly disagreed, however, saying the
United States had itself been a victim of terror and
would not support such activities.
Mottaki was due to hold talks on Monday with Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad, who infuriated Baghdad
when he said Damascus would support a military
incursion against the Kurdish rebels. Syria also has
a Kurdish minority.
Since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule
in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
AFP
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