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US rejects Iraqi claim that Turkey's
Kurdish PKK rebels out of reach
26.10.2007
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October
26, 2007
ANKARA, -- A senior
US official rejected Thursday an Iraqi argument that
it was unable to round up Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebel
leaders who use remote bases in Kurdistan region
'northern Iraq' to launch cross-border raids on
Turkish troops.
"Nothing is impossible," said Matthew Bryza, deputy
assistant secretary of state for European and
Eurasian affairs.
"If we cooperate together and deepen this
cooperation why should anything be impossible?"
His remarks were a response to recent comments by
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, also a Kurd, that
the Iraqi authorities were unable to arrest
commanders of the Turkey's rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
because they were holed up in remote mountainous
areas.
Turkey, where the PKK has been waging a 23-year
insurgency, has threatened to launch a military
incursion into Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq'
unless Baghdad and Washington crack down on the
separatist bases there.
"Anybody anywhere in the world sees how seriously
Turkey is taking this issue," said Bryza, who
acknowledged that the United States also needed to
make good on its pledges to help eliminate the PKK
threat.
"We'll deliver on those promises. We are working on
it... with the Turkish government and the Iraqi
government," Bryza said. "We know we need to produce
concrete results".
Bryza also said that Washington was pushing hard for
the release of eight Turkish troops captured by the
PKK during a weekend ambush near the Iraqi border.
"We are doing what we can, working with the Turkish
government and the Iraqi government to make sure
that the remaining hostages are freed," he said.
In a statement posted Thursday on the website of a
pro-Kurdish news agency, the PKK said the eight
soldiers were being "held in guerrilla areas in
northern Kurdistan" -- rebel parlance for
Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey.
Bryza insisted that Washington wants to help in
meeting Turkish demands for the arrest of PKK
leaders in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq', cutting the
group's logistical supplies and closing down its
political front offices there.
"We've improved and increased our intelligence
sharing cooperation with Turkey... This is an
ongoing effort," he told reporters.
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
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