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Turkey rejects ceasefire offer by Kurdish
PKK rebels 23.10.2007
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October
23, 2007
Baghdad,-- Turkish Foreign Minister Ali
Babacan on Tuesday rejected a
conditional ceasefire
offer from the Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels
(Kurdistan Workers' Party), saying Ankara does not
deal with a "terror" group.
Babacan made the remarks at a joint press conference
with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari after
their talks over the crisis on the two countries'
borders caused by the PKK rebels.
Babacan, apparently referring to the PKK, said a
ceasefire should be reached between two countries or
two armies but not with a terror group.
But he pledged Turkey's respect to Iraq's
territorial integrity, saying the emphasis was still
on a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
"We also don't wish our historical and friendly ties
with Iraq to be ruined because of a terrorist
organization," Babacan said at a joint news
conference after meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister
Hoshyar Zebari. "On the other hand, we are expecting
support from international community and our
neighbors in struggle against terrorism." |
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, left, is seen
with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, right,
on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007 at the Iraqi ministry of
foreign affairs in Baghdad, Iraq |
Babacan said rebel attacks left 42 people dead alone
this month.
But he rejected any offer of a cease-fire by the
rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is known by
its Kurdish acronym PKK and operates from bases in
the mountainous border area in Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq'.
Cease-fires are "possible between states and regular
forces," Babacan said. "The problem here is that
we're dealing with a
terrorist organization."
Zebari, himself a Kurd, called the latest crisis
"complex and grave" and expressed hope that a
diplomatic push would help stave off any incursion,
which Iraqi and U.S. leaders have warned would
threaten the relative peace in northern Iraq — the
one stable area in the wartorn country.
He also said the two diplomats had agreed on
concrete measures but he didn't elaborate, saying a
high-level political and military defense delegation
would travel soon to Turkey.
Zebari also insisted there was a "resolve and
insistence on the part of the Iraqi government" to
cooperate with Turkey to resolve the border issue
"and deal with the terrorists that Turkey is
subjected to."
But Babacan expressed frustration, saying U.S. and
Iraqi authorities had promised to deal with the
rebels in the past to no avail.
On his part, Zebari said the Iraqi government will
actively help Turkey to remove the threat posed by
the PKK.
Babacan arrived in Baghdad Tuesday morning for talks
with Iraqi leaders over the crisis of the Kurdish
rebels.
He is also expected to meet Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani, also a Kurd, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
The PKK, which is on the terror list of US, European
Union and the NATO, since 1984 the PKK took up arms
for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
AP | Agencies
**
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
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