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Bush to meet Turkish PM on November 5
31.10.2007
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October
31, 2007
WASHINGTON, -- US President George W. Bush
meets November 5 with Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, amid mounting US efforts to
forestall a Turkish incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan
to crush Turkey's Kurdish PKK separatist rebels.
Ahead of the high-stakes talks, Erdogan warned
Tuesday that he wants Bush to take "concrete, urgent
steps" against the Iraq-based Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) and that US-Turkey ties will hinge on
Washington's response.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino cited "joint
efforts to counter the PKK" but declined to spell
out the US contribution against the group, which
Washington and Europe both consider a terrorist
organization.
"We have a joint desire, a joint need to make sure
that the PKK is eradicated," she said.
Washington has pressed Ankara not to launch a
large-scale incursion into relatively stable
Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, while Baghdad has
warned that any such action would have "disastrous"
results.
Bush will talk to Erdogan "about exercising
restraint, limiting the actions against the PKK" as
well as "making sure that they continue to have that
dialogue with the Iraqis, because ultimately the
neighbors need to work together to make sure that
they solve this problem," said Perino.
In Ankara, Erdogan said that the PKK's safe have in
northern Iraq would dominated the upcoming talks,
calling it a "sincerity test" for all of the parties
involved and a decisive force for shaping US-Turkish
relations.
"I will openly tell him that we expect concrete,
urgent steps against the terrorists," Erdogan said
in a speech in parliament to deputies of his Justice
and Development Party.
"Our talks (with Bush) will make them better
understand that Turkey's patience has run out and
that we are determined to unhesitatingly take all
the steps to finish off terrorism."
Erdogan also said he would seek an explanation from
Washington on how US military hardware given to
Iraqi forces had ended up in PKK hands.
He said he would discuss "the groups on which the
terrorist organization relies" -- an apparent
reference to the Iraqi Kurds, who run northern Iraq
and whom Ankara accuses of tolerating and even
supporting the PKK, Kurdish authorities in Kurdistan
region strongly reject the claim.
Turkey rejects direct talks with the official Iraqi
Kurdistan government on the crisis over the Turkey's PKK
rebels.
Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional
government that holds sway in northern Iraq,
regretted Ankara's refusal to hold direct talks on
the crisis over the Turkey's separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) rebels. Barzani said he was
worried that Turkey is using the PKK as a pretext to
undermine Kurdistan autonomy in 'northern Iraq'.
Ankara has never, and still does not, recognize the
KRG and refuses to meet with its representatives in
any official capacity. That reflects Ankara's fear
that any international respect shown to the
autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region would only
embolden Turkey's own Kurdish minority to seek
similar home-rule status.
Kamel Shaker, a top Iraqi Kurdish leader, said "They
do not want to meet with the representatives of
Kurdistan, or have a dialogue with president Massud
Barzani. They do not want Kurdistan."
Breaking the drug-trafficking rings the PKK uses for
financing would also be on the agenda, he said,
adding that he would ask the US to put forward a
roadmap on the procedures it intended to take.
Turkey still considered diplomacy its favored route
to resolve the problem, but the threat of military
action remained, Erdogan said.
Last week, Perino acknowledged that Turkey was "skeptical"
after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to
crack down on the PKK and shut its offices -- almost
the exact same actions he promised in September
2006.
The Turkish parliament earlier this month authorized
military action in Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq'
to strike at the Turkish-PKK, since 1984 the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey..
Washington strongly opposes a Turkish incursion, but
is in an awkward position between two key allies --
NATO-member Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds, who run
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' but are reluctant to
confront fellow Kurds of the PKK.
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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