|
Bush vows US help for Turkey against PKK
rebels
23.10.2007
|
|
|
|
October
23, 2007
WASHINGTON, -- President George W. Bush
Monday promised his Turkish counterpart that the
United States would cooperate to combat Turkey's
Kurdish PKK rebels operating out of Kurdistan
'northern Iraq', the White House said.
In a telephone call with President Abdullah Gul,
Bush "expressed his deep concern" about recent
attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
White House national security council spokesman
Gordon Johndroe said.
"The president reaffirmed our commitment to work
with Turkey and Iraq to combat PKK terrorists
operating out of northern Iraq," he said, as
tensions flared after deadly weekend border clashes.
"President Bush told President Gul that the United
States will continue to urge the Iraqis to take
action against the PKK," Johndroe added.
The PKK said it had captured eight Turkish soldiers
after an ambush Sunday on a military unit near the
village of Daglica on the Iraqi border, which left
12 troops dead.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
threatened to launch a military drive into northern
Iraq unless Baghdad clamps down on the rebels and
turns over the PKK leaders it accuses of
masterminding cross-border attacks.
Worried about any deterioration in ties with its key
ally in Ankara, US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice earlier Monday telephoned Erdogan and the
president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, to
urge restraint.
Washington fears that its influence with Turkey has
been undermined by a push in Congress to describe
the World War I massacre of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks as "genocide."
"President Bush also reiterated his opposition to
House Resolution 106, the Armenian 'genocide'
resolution," Johndroe said.
The United States, which uses the Incirlik air base
in southern Turkey as a major staging post for
supplies headed to its forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan, fears any incursion could gravely
undermine its battle to stabilize Iraq.
In a video-conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki, Bush pressed for more action from
authorities in Baghdad and Iraq's Kurdish north
against the PKK.
"The prime minister agreed with President Bush that
Turkey should have no doubt about our mutual
commitment to end all terrorist activity from Iraqi
soil," Johndroe said.
"They agreed to work together, in cooperation with
the Turkish government, to prevent the PKK from
using any part of Iraqi territory to plan or carry
out terrorist attacks."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier
Monday telephoned Erdogan to urge restraint and also
spoke with the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud
Barzani.
"We do not believe unilateral cross-border
operations are the best way to address this issue,"
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
As tensions soared, Rice and visiting British
Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for Turkey
and Iraq to work together against the PKK.
"We continue to believe that cooperation and
coordination between Turkey and Iraq is the most
effective means to eliminate the PKK threat," the
top US and British officials said in a joint
statement.
"At a time when we are seeing real progress in the
security situation inside Iraq and efforts to
promote peace in the region, the Iraqi government
must demonstrate its commitment to regional
stability," they added.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih,
who is a Kurd, indicated during an appearance at a
Washington policy institute Monday that the Kurdish
regional government would not attack its ethnic kin.
"Don't ask us to start an endless civil war," he
said.
The PKK, the Turkish acronym for the Kurdistan
Workers Party, contends that the government has
oppressed minority Kurds for decades.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since the
PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.
AFP
**
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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 