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Rice Urges Turkey Not To Attack Kurdish
Rebels In Iraq
7.2.2007 |
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February 7, 2007
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her
Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, on Tuesday for
talks about Iraq and Turkey's European Union
aspirations. Rice and Gul met at the State
Department in Washington and were also to discuss
Iran, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack
said.
Turkey has been increasingly concerned about Kurdish
separatists using northern Iraq to carry out attacks
inside Turkey and has pushed the US military to do
more to crackdown on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged
her Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul during talks in
Washington not to take military action against
Kurdish rebels in neighboring Iraq.
Turkey accuse the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) of using northern Iraq to launch attacks into
Turkey.
Ankara accuses Washington and Baghdad of not doing
enough to stop the PKK in Iraq. |
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right, meets
with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul AP |
The United States strongly supports Turkey's desire
to join the European Union, but Ankara has failed to
persuade most EU countries to back Turkish
membership
Turkish Minister Warns Against U.S. Genocide
Resolution
Turkey's foreign minister has warned the U.S.
Congress that passing a resolution condemning as
"genocide" the mass killing of Armenians early in
the last century would harm relations.
Abdullah Gul, speaking after meeting top U.S.
officials in Washington on February 6, said the
proposed resolution would be an irritant to
otherwise close cooperation with the United States
on issues such as Iraq.
"I see this as a real threat to our relationship,"
he said. "While we are having cooperation in these
difficult fields, while we are fighting shoulder to
shoulder in these fields, while we are supporting
each other and facing these challenges, this
resolution, if it is accepted, I believe that if
that happens, it will be a real shock."
U.S. officials have said they will try to block the
resolution.
"In terms of the discussions within the U.S.
Congress, look, we understand very clearly that this
is a sensitive issue not only for the Turkish people
but for the Armenian people," U.S. State Department
spokesman Sean McCormick said. "We have made our
views known on the potential for a resolution or for
a bill."
Turkey denies the World War 1-era deaths of around
1.5 million Armenians amounted to genocide.
AFP | AP
**
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. The Kurds have no rights in
Turkey.
Others estimate as many as 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.
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
First world war
massacres | Related
issue:
Armenian Genocide by Turkish Muslims against
Christians
Turkey faces international pressure to recognise
that more than 1 million Armenians were massacred
during a 1915 campaign of ethnic cleansing by
Ottoman Turks. Turkish officials claim that most
deaths were caused by hunger and disease.
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