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Turkey: Erdogan asked Italian premier to
shut down PKK office, says report
9.11.2007
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November 9, 2007
Istanbul, -- Turkish media reports say that
prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked his
Italian counterpart Romano Prodi to close down an
office of the Turkey's Kurdish rebel group PKK
(Kurdistan Worker's Party) in Italy.
While the talks between the two leaders this week
focused on messages of friendship and ways to boost
bilateral ties, the Turkish daily Milliyet said that
behind the close door sessions, Erdogan also asked
Italy to shut down a PKK office.
However the paper did not give the details about
where this PKK office is located and under what name
it functions.
The Kurdish rebel group has been blamed for a spate
of attacks on Turkey that prompted Ankara to
threaten a cross-border offensive against its bases
in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'. Washington has urged
Turkey to exercise restraint.
During his two-day visit to Italy, the Turkish prime
minister said that the PKK is a "terrorist"
organisation that must be eliminated and he referred
to the furstration that Ankara felt in not getting
the support to deal with the Kurdish rebel group. |
Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi (R) shakes hand
with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan
during a meeting at in Rome November 7, 2007 |
Both the United States and the EU have labelled the
PKK a terrorist organisation, but Erdogan said some
European nations have captured leaders of the group
only to release them and allow them to return to
Iraq.
Turkish officials have also said in the past that
the PKK operated under different names in many
European countries and they criticise the European
officials who are slow to shut these groups down.
They claim that these PKK offices operate as
“Kurdish cultural centres” in European cities.
Turkish officials say these offices are used for
laundering money for the PKK and raising funds for
the organisation.
For his part, the Italian prime minister Romano
Prodi said Rome will continue to cooperate with
Ankara in the fight against terrorism and also
praised Turkey for the moderation it has shown until
now.
In his meeting with the Italian prime minister,
Erdogan also stressed that his government is
committed to changing the controversial article 301
in the Turkish penal code, which criminalises
"insulting Turkishness"
Article 301 has often been invoked by nationalists
against those who argue that the Ottoman empire
committed genocide
against Armenians around the time of World War I.
Nobel-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk and murdered
Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink were both
prosecuted under the law for their comments on the
mass killings of Armenians. www.ekurd.net
In his speech at the Italy-Turkey Business Council
in Rome, Erdogan also thanked Italy for
“continuously supporting” Turkey in its EU bid.
“You get to know us very well, that’s why you
supported us," said Erdogan. "Thank you for that,"
he said. He also invited Italian businessmen to
invest in Turkey.
Over 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. Kurdish PKK ask Turkey
"give the Kurds their national, cultural and
political rights and freedom of expression". www.ekurd.net
adnkronos com
**
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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