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Iraqi Kurdistan close office of Kurdish
political party with close ties to PKK
4.11.2007
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November
4, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq', --
Iraq began a crackdown Saturday on the Turkey's
rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), shutting down
offices of a group linked to the movement but
stopped short of promising to close their mountain
camps.
The move comes after Turkey threatened military
action against the PKK rear-bases in Kurdistan
'northern Iraq' if the Iraqi and US authorities fail
to end the group's safe haven in the region.
Iraq also said PKK militants would be arrested if
intercepted by members of the security forces.
"There are security measures being taken, the
checking of any suspect officer of the PKK in the
Kurdistan region and in all Iraq," said Iraqi
government spokesman Ali Dabbagh.
The measures would cut off all "possibility" of
logistic support to the PKK, Dabbagh told reporters
on the sidelines of an international security
conference on Iraq in Istanbul.
Ankara accuses the Iraqi Kurds, who administer
autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, of
harbouring and even aiding the PKK, listed as a
terrorist group by Turkey and in the West. Kurdish
authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan region strongly
reject the claim of aiding PKK.
In the first sign of a crackdown on Kurdish rebels,
the regional government of Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'
closed the Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party's
headquarters in Erbil and a branch office in
Sulaimaniyah, a regional official told AFP.
The move comes nearly two weeks after Iraqi Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged to close PKK-linked
offices and not allow the "terrorist" group to
operate on Iraqi soil, amid the threats of a Turkish
military incursion.
"We started this morning to close the office of the
Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party which
sympathizes with the PKK," the official said.
"We have decided to shut down all such offices of
local Kurdish parties which sympathise with the PKK."
The administration first closed the main office in
Erbil and later in Sulaimaniyah.
"The office of the party was closed because the
group is not recognised by the government of the
region," Sulaimaniyah security chief Saif al-Din Ali
Ahmed said.
"Lately the party also made several statements
considered to be against the interests of the
Kurdistan region. So the administration decided to
close its offices."
The Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party was founded
in 2003 by Fa'aq Kolbi, a Kurd from northern Iraq.
The party contested the national elections in 2005
but did not win a single seat, and it also has no
representation in the Kurdish parliament of northern
Iraq.
Kolbi denounced the action against his party.
"We are a political party supporting the struggle of
our people in Turkish Kurdistan and the decision has
been taken under the pressure of the Turkish
government," he said in a statement.
"We denounce the closing of our headquarters and we
consider it as a wrong step taken by the regional
government."
Meanwhile, eight Turkish soldiers captured by the
PKK on October 21 are expected to be released on
Sunday, according to a news agency close to the
rebel group.
The PKK will hand over the soldiers to three Kurdish
lawmakers from Turkey at an undisclosed location in
Kurdisran 'northern Iraq', said the Brussels-based
Firat news agency, considered a PKK mouthpiece.
At the Iraq conference in Istanbul, Maliki
reiterated Baghdad's commitment to close PKK
offices.
"We place great importance on our relations with our
brother Turkey... We are aware of the scale of the
threat" posed by the rebels, he said.
"We have made a definite decision to close down the
offices of the PKK in Iraq. We are taking strong
measures... We will watch the (PKK) members in the
regions where they are based."
Ankara has acknowledged that Maliki is trying to
help Turkey against the PKK, but his embattled
government has virtually no authority in northern
Iraq where the Iraqi Kurds run an autonomous
administration.
Iraqi Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using
Turkey's Kurdish separatist PKK rebel group as an
excuse to invade Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent
the establishment of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish
autonomous region in 'northern Iraq', Turkey fears
this could fan separatism among its own large
Kurdish population in southeast Turkey. Turkey is
home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds.
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.
www.ekurd.net
Turkey has never, and still does not, recognize the
Kurdistan region government (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
large Kurdish minority to seek similar home-rule
status.
www.ekurd.net
In Turkey, the term Kurdistan is a
politically-charged reference to Kurdish-majority
areas in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq.
It has urged the closure of the PKK camps and the
arrest and extradition of its leaders.
Maliki's October 23 order to crack down on PKK
offices was dismissed by the Kurdish administration.
"There is no office of the PKK in the Kurdish
region" of Iraq, regional government spokesman Jamal
Abdallah said.
Iraqi officials say that even if the PKK did not
have a direct presence it operated clandestinely
through local political and social groups in the
north of the country.
AFP
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