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Turkey lauds Iraqi Kurds for action
against PKK rebels
21.11.2007
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November 21, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey's President Abdullah Gul
praised Iraqi Kurds on Wednesday for taking steps
against Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels based in their
autonomous Kurdistan region but warned it retained
the option of a military strike, the Anatolia news
agency reported.
"We see that common sense has started to slowly
prevail in northern Iraq," Gul was quoted as telling
reporters in Tbilisi ahead of a ceremony to lay the
foundation of a railway linking Georgia, Azerbaijan
and Turkey.
"They (Iraqi Kurds) are aware of the cost of failing
to show the courage to stand against the PKK
(Kurdistan Workers' Party rebels)."
Accusing Iraqi Kurds of aiding the PKK, Turkey has
threatened to carry out a cross-border operation
into Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' to strike at Turkey's
PKK rebels using the region as a springboard for
attacks on Turkish targets. Iraqi and Kurdish
authorities in Kurdistan region strongly reject
these claims.
The Baghdad government and the regional Kurdistan
government in the north of the country have
subsequently agreed to step up measures to curb the
PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by much of
the international community.
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.
Earlier this month, US President George W. Bush
pledged to provide Turkey with real-time
intelligence on the PKK, in a move largely seen as
tacit US approval for limited cross-border Turkish
strikes.
"We have to show our determination for an armed
struggle against terrorism. The terrorist
organisation should know that if it insists on
weapons, it will get a response with weapons," Gul
said.
His comments coincided with a
warning by a top PKK commander
that the group would create chaos in northern Iraq
if the United States and the Iraqi Kurds help Turkey
against the rebels.
"If we want we can create instability and place
their interests in danger," Cemil Bayik told the
Firat news agency, considered a PKK mouthpiece.
"Our position...is clear: we will resist. We will
never surrender," he added.
More than 37,000 people have died since the PKK
launched an armed campaign in 1984 for self-rule in
Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.
Turkey has massed an estimated 100,000 troops and
military equipment on the border with Iraqi
Kurdistan, complaining that neither the US nor Iraq
have fulfilled pledges to curb the rebels. www.ekurd.net
Washington and Baghdad oppose any large-scale
Turkish military action in Kurdistan region
'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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