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Turkish army chief accuses Iraqi Kurds of
supporting rebels
17.2.2007
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February 17, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey, -- Turkey's army chief has accused
the two main Kurdish factions in neighbouring
Kurdistan (northern Iraq) of supporting the Turkish
Kurd separatist group PKK and providing it with
explosives.
"Both groups are currently giving full support to
the PKK. They are the biggest supporter of the PKK
at the moment... They (the rebels) also take C-4
explosives from them," Gen. Yasar Buyukanit was
quoted by the Anatolia news agency on Saturday, as
telling Turkish reporters in Washington after talks
with US officials.
Turkey has grown increasingly impatient with US and
Iraqi reluctance to crack down on bases of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a
terrorist group by both Ankara and Washington, in
northern Iraq, where the rebels have long taken
refuge. |
Turkey's army chief Yasar Buyukanit - AFP |
Buyukanit's accusations were directed at the Iraqi
Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan, which run an autonomous Kurdish
administration in the north.
Ankara charges that PKK militants use northern Iraq
as a training ground, enjoy unrestricted movement in
the region and are able to obtain arms and
explosives there for attacks across the border.
Buyukanit also charged that Iraqis provided no
security on their side of the mountainous frontier,
giving the PKK a free hand in its operations.
"There are no Iraqi security forces tasked with
guarding the other side of the border. The Iraqi
side has been handed over to the PKK... This is
unacceptable," Anatolia quoted him as saying.
"If the PKK is taking advantage of that to harm our
people, it becomes compulsory for us to say that it
is a necessity for Turkey to take measures," he
said.
Turkey has threatened a cross-border operation to
crack down on the PKK if the United States and Iraq
fail to curb the group.
Washington has warned Ankara against such a move,
wary that military action may destabilise what is
one of the relataively peaceful regions in
conflict-torn Iraq and fuel tensions between Turkey
and the Iraqi Kurds, a staunch US ally.
Buyukanit said about 3,500 PKK militants were
currently based in Iraq, and another 1,500 in
Turkey.
He voiced scepticism about remarks this week by
Prime Minister Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that
Ankara would be ready to improve ties with the Iraqi
Kurds "if this will serve peace" in the region.
"I cannot interfere if political contacts are to be
held. But what do I have to discuss with those who
support the PKK?"
he said.
Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds are already at
loggerheads over the future of the ethnically
volatile, oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which the Kurds
want to incorporate into their autonomous region
although the city is also home to Arabs and Turkish
-backed Turkmens.
Ankara suspects the Iraqi Kurds of planning to break
away from Baghdad, which in turn, could embolden the
PKK's separatist campaign in adjoining southeast
Turkey.
Buyukanit said he believed US officials had begun to
comprehend that "the problem has reached a serious
pitch."
During a visit to Ankara last month, the US
coordinator of efforts against the PKK, Joseph W.
Ralston, said Washington was considering "many
actions" to curb the group and expressed hope that
the Iraqi Kurds would help.
The PKK has fought for self-rule in the
predominantly Kurdish southeast since 1984 in a
bloody conflict that has claimed some 37,000 lives.
AFP
** 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 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.
Turkey is home to some 20 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
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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