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Tensions high between Turkey, Iraqi Kurds
19.4.2007
By Margaret Besheer |
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April
19, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq) -- Last week
Turkey's top general called for military action
against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. But Iraqi
Kurdish officials say a political solution, not a
military one, is what is needed to settle this
decades-old issue. From the capital of northern
Iraq's Kurdistan Region, VOA's Margaret Besheer has
more.
Turkey accuses Iraqi Kurds of protecting and
supporting the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers'
Party, known as the PKK, a charge Iraqi Kurdish
officials deny.
Turkish General Yasar Buyukanit's call last week for
an incursion into northern Iraq followed a public
volley of comments from Iraqi Kurdish leaders and
Ankara, in which each side threatened interference
in the other's domestic affairs.
Ankara has launched offensives against the PKK in
the southeastern part of Turkey, where more than 14
million Kurds live. In the past few weeks more than
30 rebels and a dozen Turkish soldiers have been
killed in clashes.
Retired Turkish General Edip Baser says it is
Turkey's right to go after the PKK.
"It is hard to understand why we should not use one
of our international rights, as this terrorist
organization is still active and coming into my
country, and acting in my country, killing people
and then going back to northern Iraq," he said. "Why
should I not go after them?"
Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister
Nechirvan Barzani tells VOA that he does not believe
Turkish military intervention in northern Iraq will
resolve the situation.
He says past military action against the rebels did
not bring a decisive result. He adds that he
believes Turkey knows what is in its best interest
and such an intervention is not.
Mr. Barzani says a political solution rests in
Turkey's hands. He advocates Ankara consider a
general amnesty as a way for these groups to lay
down their arms, return to Turkey, and have an
opportunity to participate in the political process
there.
In return, he says, relations between Ankara and
Iraqi Kurds will be stronger - something he says
Iraqi Kurds want.
Mr. Barzani says Turkish companies hold more than $1
billion in contracts in his region and that in the
future they would receive priority, including in the
lucrative oil sector.
The prime minister also urged the United States to
increase its efforts in helping resolve the PKK
issue.
He says, "We are allies to the United States and so
is Turkey. We believe the United States can play a
role in bringing both of its allies closer
together."
The United States considers the PKK a terrorist
organization and has appointed Retired Air Force
General Joseph Ralston as a special envoy to help
the parties find a solution.
Adding to the tension is the uncertain future of the
Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
Kirkuk is home to Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians and ethnic
Turkmen. A referendum later this year is expected to
put the city under Kurdish regional government
control.
The Turks fear such an outcome would put the city's
huge oil revenues in Kurdish hands and encourage
Kurdish separatists in Turkey to rise up against the
government.
Prime Minister Barzani says Turkey tends to forget
that Kirkuk is an Iraqi city with a Kurdish
identity, and that there already exists a roadmap
within the Iraqi constitution for determining the
city's future. He says escalating tensions between
the neighbors over it is unnecessary.
voanews com
** 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.
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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