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Risk of Turkish incursion into Iraq
diminished: FM
20.11.2007
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November 20, 2007
BRUSSELS, -- The risk of a major Turkish
incursion into Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' to strike
at Turkey's Kurdish PKK guerrillas has diminished
because of better cooperation between Baghdad and
Ankara, Iraq's foreign minister said on Tuesday.
"The danger is still there to be honest ... but I
think the chances of a major invasion are less now,"
Hoshiyar Zebari told reporters on arriving for a
meeting with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana
in Brussels.
He said the threat had declined because of improved
cooperation between Turkey and Iraq on securing the
border.
"We have worked very closely with the Turkish
government to secure the border and taken a number
of concrete measures to prevent PKK terrorism from
threatening Turkey." |
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari |
"The dialogue is ongoing and I hope there wouldn't
be any full-scale incursion. That would be
destabilising and have serious consequences for the
entire region," he added.
Zebari's comments come after Iraqi President Jalal
al-Talabani, a Kurd, said on Friday that a limited
Turkish military operation was "now almost
inevitable".
Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has set
up roadblocks to stop the flow of food and fuel to
rebels of the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
who use Iraq's Kurdistan mountainous as a launchpad
for attacks on southern Turkey.
Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops backed by
tanks, artillery and planes on Iraq's border and
threatened to launch a major military operation to
crush the PKK guerrillas.
www.ekurd.net
Zebari was in Brussels the same day as Turkish
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan but it was not clear if
any bilateral meetings between the two were
scheduled.
Since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule
in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds.
Reuters
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