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US: Kurdistan government doesn't support
PKK
21.2.2007
By Vladimir van Wilgenburg & eKurd.net staff |
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February 21, 2007
State Department spokesman Tom Casey backed the
Kurdish position for the third time, saying the
Kirkuk referendum process should go ahead as
planned. He also declared that the KRG-Kurdistan
regional government doesn't support the rebel
movement PKK.
Reporters asked if the KDP and PUK support the PKK
in Kurdistan. Casey said:”The regional government of
Kurdistan, government in Bagdad, the American
government and the Turkish government together will
look for a solution for the PKK-problem.
The PKK is supported by no one.” Casey also said
America supports a diplomatic solution to the PKK-issue
and is against a military attack on the PKK.
About Kirkuk Tom Casey said: "We support the Iraqi
constitution and that means we also support the
referendum for Kirkuk."
This is the third time America shows their support
for a referendum in Kirkuk. |
Flash Video- Roj TV |
Premier Erdogan recently declared on a meeting with
the Iraqi vice-president that the Kirkuk referendum
must be delayed, because the normalisation process,
envisaged by the Iraqi constitution, has not yet
been achieved in Kirkuk. Planned meetings between
the Turkish and Kurdish government have been
suspended.
Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi said, Kirkuk
is an Iraqi problem and a referendum should take
place based on Iraqi constitution.
Mahdi urged Turkey Wednesday to stop threatening
cross-border military operations against Turkish
Kurd rebels based in northern Iraq, saying
unilateral action will not help resolve problems
"Such problems cannot be resolved through unilateral
moves," Mahdi told reporters after talks with
Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul. "All
countries in the region should seek cooperation and
respect each other's sovereignity."
The Iraqi leader, a Shiite, also pledged that
Baghdad will do "all it can" to prevent the PKK from
using Iraq as a springboard for attacks on Turkish
territory.
"In Iraq, we are fighting Iraqi groups, be they
Sunni or Shiite. It would be unthinkable for us not
to fight foreign groups," he said.
Sources: Netkurd, Azady, NTVmsnbc, Roj TV
vladimirkurdistan.blogspot.com
** The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein forced
more than 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up their
homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city and the region's
oil industry.
Kirkuk city is a Kurdistani city and it lies just south border of the Kurdistan
autonomous region and it is not under the full
control of Kurdistan Regional Government
administration.
Based on Iraq's Constitution, a referendum is to be
held in late 2007 to decide whether the oil-rich
Kurdish province should be annexed to the safe
semiautonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north.
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