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Turkish parliament approves military
action in Iraqi Kurdistan
17.10.2007
Update 2
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October
17, 2007
ANKARA,-- The Turkish parliament Wednesday
voted to allow military strikes against Kurdish PKK
separatists in Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq',
despite stiff US opposition and appeals from Baghdad
for time to purge the rebels.
A government motion seeking a one-year authorisation
for one or more incursions into Iraq was approved
with the support of 507 lawmakers in the 550-seat
house, with 19 voting against.
The motion leaves it up to the government to
determine the timing and scope of the operation and
the number of troops to be sent.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stressed
that parliamentary approval would not mean immediate
military action, signalling that there could be
still room for diplomacy.
Both Baghdad and Washington scrambled to dissuade
Ankara from following through on military action.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he was
determined to act against the separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), which attacks Turkey from its
bases in northern Iraq.
The PKK has waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish
self-rule in the heavily Kurdish southeast of Turkey
since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than
37,000 lives.
Maliki told Erdogan on the telephone that Baghdad
"is absolutely determined to end the activities and
the presence" of the PKK in Iraq, the semi-official
Anatolia news agency reported, quoting unnamed
sources.
He also asked for "a new opportunity" to resolve the
issue through diplomatic means and proposed talks.
Erdogan welcomed the proposal but warned that Ankara
cannot tolerate any "further waste of time".
In Washington, President George W. Bush said the
United States was "making it very clear to Turkey
that we don't think it is in their interests" to
send troops into Iraq.
"There's a better way to deal with the issue," Bush
told a press conference.
But Washington has lost its leverage with Ankara
because of a pending Congressional vote on a
resolution branding the 1915-17 Ottoman massacres of
Armenians as genocide.
Turkey strongly rejects the "genocide" tage and has
threatened unspecified reprisals against its NATO
ally.
Turkey says the PKK enjoys free movement in
Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq', is tolerated by
local Kurdish leaders and obtains weapons and
explosives there for attacks across the border in
Turkey. Iraqi and Kurdish authorities in Kurdistan
region reject the claim.
Faced with mounting rebel violence, Ankara says it
is left with no choice but military action because
neither Washington nor Baghdad is helping to curb
the rebels.
Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who held
emergency talks with Turkish leaders here Tuesday,
said Baghdad should be given time to curb the PKK
under an agreement the two countries signed last
month.
"Give us time to join forces with Turkey to tackle
this problem," he said Wednesday before he left
Ankara.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, also urged
Turkey to give up plans of military action and
called on the PKK to end violence.
The Kurdistan regional government in northern Iraq
warned that a Turkish incursion would be "illegal
and a violation of international law."
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'.
Ankara is anxious to prevent the emergence of a
Kurdish state in Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq',
fearing this could fan separatism among its own
large Kurdish population in southeast Turkey. Turkey
is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds.
Officially, Turkey does not recognise the regional
government of Kurdistan led by president Massoud
Barzani.www.ekurd.net
The PKK problem is an "internal Turkish problem,"
spokesman Jamal Abdullah insisted.
Erdogan came under pressure for tougher action after
the rebels killed 15 soldiers in two days this month
and were blamed for an ambush of a van days earlier
in which 12 people were shot dead.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on a visit to
Turkey, said Wednesday that Damascus
would back a
Turkish incursion to pursue the PKK, saying it was
"Turkey's legitimate right."
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop de Scheffer,
meanwhile, urged "the greatest possible restraint
precisely in this time of great tensions."
AFP
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