June 8, 2007
Salaheddin, Kurdistan region (Iraq),-- The
president of Iraq's Kurdistan region on Thursday
rejected Ankara's declaration that it was ready for
dialogue with Iraqi Kurds provided they took
measures against Turkish Kurd rebels holed up in the
autonomous enclave.
"We do not accept the conditions laid down to deal
with the PKK. We have always said that we would help
Turkey if it chooses the path of dialogue and we
confirm this," Massoud Barzani told a news
conference alongside Iraqi President Jalal Talabani,
also a Kurd.
"If Turkey's aim is war, we are not prepared to
accept these conditions," Barzani added.
The PKK or Kurdistan Workers' Party, branded as a
terrorist group by Ankara and much of the
international community, has fought for self-rule in
Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984 in a
conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
Turkey charges that thousands of PKK rebels have
found refuge in Kurdistan (northern Iraq) where they
are able to obtain weapons and explosives to launch
attacks across the border.
Ankara accuses Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and even
supporting the rebels. |
President of Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous region
Massoud Barazani speaks during a press conference in
Salaheddin summer resort, north of the Kurdish city
of Erbil AFP 7 June 2007. |
|
"A Turkish invasion would be first of all an attack
on Iraqi sovereignty and then an attack on the
Kurds," said Barzani.
Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Levent Bilman
said on Wednesday that "we need to see positive
signals in order to take steps for dialogue, and by
positive signals we mean serious steps against the
terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party.
"Otherwise, there is no point in holding a dialogue
just for the sake of it," Bilman added.
Turkey has long pressed the United States and Iraq
to stamp out the PKK presence in the region and has
even threatened to carry out a cross-border
operation if they fail to do so.
The debate over a possible Turkish military
operation into Kurdistan region (northern Iraq) has
intensified since a suicide bomb attack last month
in Ankara, blamed on the PKK, killed six people and
wounded more than 100.
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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