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Bush tries to avert Turkish move into
Iraqi Kurdistan
5.11.2007
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Bush, Turkish PM Discuss Kurdish Rebels
November 5, 2007
WASHINGTON, -- President Bush hoped a
face-to-face meeting Monday would persuade Turkey's
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to hold back
tens of thousands of Turkish troops massed on Iraq's
Kurdistan border.
But Erdogan came to Washington expecting the United
States to take action against Turkey's Kurdish PKK
rebels staging cross-border attacks from Iraq into
Turkey. So far, the U.S. has been unable to deliver.
During a trip to Turkey last week, Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice promised to redouble efforts
against the Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
But her Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister Ali
Babacan, made clear his government was not
satisfied.
"We are at the point where words have been exhausted
and where there is need for action," Babacan said
Friday.
Turkish leaders have signaled that a decision on
what to do about the rebels may hinge on what
Erdogan can bring back from Washington to a Turkish
public that favors military action in Iraq.
"Rice's visit only raised expectations in Turkey,"
said Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey project
at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies, a Washington think tank. "If President Bush
does not make clear that he is willing to take
direct action against the PKK or make the Iraqi
Kurds take such action, Erdogan may not be able to
resist a military operation."
The PKK, which has fought for autonomy for Turkish
Kurds since 1984, is labeled a 'terrorist' group by
Europe and the United States. Turkey has complained
for years that the United States has not done enough
to end PKK activity Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan
region in the north. The issue has enraged Turks and
moved public opinion against the United States.
Mark Parris, a U.S. ambassador to Turkey in the
Clinton administration and now a visiting fellow at
the Brookings Institution, said that Monday's
meeting would be the last chance for the Bush
administration to repair strained relations with
Ankara.
"If Erdogan hears something relatively reasonable
and concrete you can put this relationship back
together," Parris said. "If not, that effort might
have to wait for a new administration."
The Bush administration worries that a cross-border
incursion would bring instability to what has been
the calmest part of Iraq, and could set a precedent
for other countries, such as Iran, that have
conflicts with Kurdish PKK rebels. For weeks, the
Bush administration has stressed the need for a
diplomatic solution between Turkey and Iraq.
Rice said the U.S. was considering sharing more
intelligence and information with Turkey and said
she had begun talking with Turkish leaders about
long term solutions.
Following a meeting in Istanbul with Iraqi officials
including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during a
conference on Iraq, Rice won a pledge that Iraq
would step up efforts to fight PKK terrorism. Later
Saturday, Iraqi Kurd authorities shut down the Erbil
and Sulaimaniyah offices of the Kurdistan Democratic
Solution party, an organization that allegedly had
close ties to Kurdish
guerrillas.
But Turkey was still looking for more from the
United States.
"I am expecting that this trip will result with the
United States ... taking solid steps," Erdogan said
Saturday prior to leaving Turkey for Washington.
The intensity of Turkey's demands on the PKK has
risen as hit-and-run raids by the rebels and other
fighting have left dozens of soldiers and civilians
dead in recent month. The skirmishes were the latest
in a conflict that has seen nearly 40,000 people
killed.
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. www.ekurd.net
AP
**
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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