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Kurdish PKK commander warns US, Iraqi
Kurdistan not to help Turkey
21.11.2007
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PKK
commander warns of resistance to any Turkish
offensive
November 21, 2007
ANKARA, -- A senior Turkey's Kurdish rebel
commander has warned U.S. authorities and Iraqi
Kurds against helping Turkey in a possible
cross-border offensive, a pro-Kurdish news agency
reported Wednesday.
Cemil Bayik, a leading commander of the Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, issued the warning
a day after two top U.S. generals met the Turkish
army's second-ranking officer to discuss measures to
crack down on Kurdish rebels based in Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq'.
"The United States, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
and the Kurdistan Democratic Party should understand
that if we want, we can create instability and place
their interests in danger," pro-Kurdish Firat news
agency quoted Bayik as saying in reference to the
two Iraqi Kurdish factions that run Kurdistan
autonomous region in 'northern Iraq'. |
Cemil Bayik, a leading commander of the Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK |
Turkey has massed troops
on its border with Iraqi Kurdistan and is
considering a cross-border attack against the PKK.
The United States considers the PKK a terrorist
organization, and President George W. Bush told
visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
earlier this month that the U.S. would begin sharing
intelligence on the guerrillas.
"Bush has declared the PKK as the enemy and wants to
eliminate the PKK through pressure and operations,"
Bayik said.
"Our position in the face of these operations is
clear; we will resist. We will never surrender."
No details were released on Tuesday's talks between
Gen. James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the U.S.
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. David Petraeus, the top
U.S. commander in Iraq, and Turkey's Gen. Ergin
Saygun.
PKK guerrillas have killed more than 50 Turks since
late September.
The United States worries that a Turkish incursion
could bring instability to the north — a region that
has been the calmest part of Iraq.
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
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.
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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