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US, Turkish generals discuss Kurdish PKK
rebels
20.11.2007
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November 20, 2007
ANKARA, -- Two senior US generals, including
the commander of US forces in Iraq, met here Tuesday
with Turkish military officials to coordinate
efforts against Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels, the
Turkish general staff said.
US Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice-chairman General James
Cartwright and General David Petraeus, the top US
commander in Iraq, held talks with Turkish Deputy
chief of General Staff General Ergin Saygun, a brief
statement said.
"The meeting focused on Iraq, continuing cooperation
in the fight against our common enemy the PKK (the
Kurdistan Workers' Party), and on comprehensive
intelligence-sharing," it said.
The NTV news channel said the Americans left for
Iraq after the talks to meet the central government
in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan
administration in 'northern Iraq', where the PKK
uses bases to launch attacks on Turkish targets
across the border.
Earlier this month, US President George W. Bush
announced after talks with Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington that the three
generals would keep in close contact to coordinate
efforts to flush out the PKK from its Kurdistani
'northern Iraqi' positions.
In a move largely seen as tacit US approval for
limited cross-border Turkish strikes, Bush also
pledged that Washington would provide Turkey with
real-time intelligence on the PKK.
Ankara said last week that the intelligence-sharing
had begun.
The Turkish parliament last month authorized the
government to order troops into Kurdistan 'northern
Iraq' if necessary to strike at the PKK bases there.
Turkey has massed an estimated 100,000 troops and
military equipment on the border with Iraqi
Kurdistan.
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
Turkey rejects direct talks with Iraqi Kurdistan
government, Officially, Turkey does not recognise
the regional government of Kurdistan led by
president Massoud Barzani.
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
But Erdogan signalled Tuesday that Ankara would not
rush into an immediate cross-border strike.
"We are not gun-toting cowboys... Our security
forces will use the mandate (given by parliament)
when the time comes," he told his Justice and
Development Party's caucus, adding that "common
sense" would prevail.
Speaking in Brussels, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar
Zebari said the likelihood of a large-scale Turkish
military operation had diminished.
"We believe the chances of a major invasion are less
now," he told reporters. "Turkey has shown wisely a
great deal of restraint in order not to destabilise
the situation in Iraq, especially when things are
moving positively."
More than 37,000 people have died since the PKK,
listed as a terrorist group by Turkeu, US and EU,
launched an armed campaign in 1984 for self-rule in
Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.
Washington and Baghdad oppose any large-scale
Turkish military action in northern Iraq, fearing it
could destabilise the only relatively calm part of
the war-torn country.
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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