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Turkey Not Preparing to Send Troops to
Kurdistan-Iraq
25.5.2007 |
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Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul says Turkey
plans no immediate move into to Kurdistan-Iraq
May
25, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey has run out of patience
over the safe haven Kurdish rebels enjoy in
neighbouring Kurdistan (northern Iraq), but there
are no immediate plans for a cross-border military
operation into the Kurdistan region, Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul said Friday.
"Our patience has run out... but timing is
important. What matters is to obtain results," Gul
said in an interview with the NTV news channel.
The Turkish army says a military incursion into
northern Iraq is needed to clamp down on bases of
the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and
stop the infiltration of rebels armed with weapons
and explosives for attacks on Turkish targets.
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Turkish Foreign Minister Gul Abdullah |
"There is no disagreement between the government and
the army. Parliament and the government will
certainly support any action, any operation that
will yield results," Gul said.
He added, however, that there was no preparation at
the moment for the government to seek parliamentary
authorisation to send soldiers into northern Iraq.
Public pressure on the government to step up the
fight against the PKK mounted after a suicide bomber
authorities believe was a PKK member blew himself up
at a busy shopping centre in downtown Ankara
Tuesday, killing six people and wounding 121.
Ankara is increasingly frustrated by US and Iraqi
reluctance to act to curb the PKK in northern Iraq,
an autonomous Kurdistan region run by the Iraqi
Kurds.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and
much of the international community, has fought for
Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984
in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000
lives.
Ankara says the Iraqi Kurds who run an autonomous
administration in northern Iraq tolerate -- and even
assist -- thousands of PKK rebels who have found
refuge in their region.
The militants, it says, obtain weapons and
explosives there for attacks on Turkish targets
across the border.
Gul told NTV that Ankara did not expect much from
the central government in Baghdad because it was
already overwhelmed by the insurgency in Iraq.
He said, however, the United States and the Iraqi
Kurds, who control northern Iraq, should act against
the PKK.
"Either you prevent illegal activities on your soil
or if you are not powerful enough, the occupation
forces there... should prevent them. If they cannot
do it either, then we, who are the ones to suffer,
will do it," Gul said.
"We have the right to expect cooperation on the
highest level from the United States," he said. "Our
cooperation is not on the desired level at the
moment."
Washington has warned Ankara against a cross-border
operation in northern Iraq, wary that such a move
may destabilise a relataively peaceful region in the
conflict-torn country and fuel tensions between
Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds, a staunch US ally.
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.
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
Others estimate over 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 over 25 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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