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Turkey urged to stop cross-border
operation threats
22.2.2007
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February 22, 2007
ANKARA , --Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel
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.
Ankara has grown increasingly impatient with US and
Iraqi reluctance to crack down on the Kurdistan
Labour Party (PKK), an armed separatist group listed
as a terrorist organisation by both Ankara and
Washington whose militants have taken refuge in
northern Iraq, which abuts Turkey.
"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. |
Iraqi vice president Adel Abdul mahdi |
"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.
Ankara says about 3,000 PKK militants use northern
Iraq as a training ground, enjoy unrestricted
movement there and obtain arms and explosives for
cross-border attacks. It has threatened military
incursions across the border if Iraq and the United
States fail to curb the rebels, whose 22-year
campaign for self-rule in southeast Turkey has
resulted in more than 37,000 deaths.
The Turkish army chief charged at the weekend that
Iraqi Kurds "fully" support the PKK and provide it
with explosives.
Mahdi said Baghdad values Turkey as a neighbour that
"has given full support to Iraq during this very
difficult period" and wants improved bilateral ties.
"Turkey is in close contact with all Iraqis and is
doing its best to help extinguish the fire there,"
Gul said.
Washington too has warned Ankara against a
cross-border operation, fearing it could destabilise
a relatively peaceful region of the war-torn country
and fuel tensions between Turkey and the Iraqi
Kurds, staunch US allies.
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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