|
Turkish PM invites Iraqi counterpart to discuss
Kurdish PKK rebels
16.6.2007 |
|
|
|
June
16, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey, -- Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited his Iraqi
counterpart Nuri al-Maliki to Ankara to discuss
measures against the safe haven that Turkish Kurd
rebels enjoy in Kurdistan (northern Iraq).
Under mounting pressure to toughen measures against
resurging rebel violence ahead of elections on July
22, Erdogan told the CNN Turk news channel late
Friday he was awaiting a response to a letter he
sent recently to Maliki proposing talks by the end
of June.
Ankara is also in contact with Washington on the
issue, he said.
"This is a diplomacy offensive. The result of this
diplomacy offensive could shape certain things," he
said.
|
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan |
The influential Turkish army has called for a
cross-border operation to destroy bases of the
separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in
neighbouring northern Iraq, where, Ankara says, the
rebels also obtain weapons and explosives for
attacks in Turkey.
Erdogan stressed Tuesday military action should be
the last resort, saying that Ankara would seek
dialogue with Baghdad and focus on fighting the PKK
inside Turkey.
He told CNN Turk the government had not ruled out an
eventual incursion into northern Iraq.
"If necessary, parliament can take a decision (to
authorise military action) so that we can have it at
hand... But we have to come to that point first," he
said.
The army has charged that Iraqi Kurds, who run
northern Iraq, tolerate and even support the rebels.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul Thursday accused the
Iraqi authorities of making "no effort at all"
against the PKK, which he said, has between 3,500
and 3,800 militants based in northern Iraq.
Anti-PKK operations in Turkey last year resulted in
the seizure of two tonnes of plastic explosives
originating from Iraq, he said.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and
much of the international community, has notably
stepped up attacks in Turkey this year.
Public anger boiled over in May when a suspected PKK
militant blew himself up in a busy shopping centre
in Ankara, killing seven people.
Washington is opposed to Turkish military action in
northern Iraq, wary that this would destabilise a
relatively peaceful region of the conflict-torn
country and further strain tense ties between Ankara
and Iraqi Kurds, staunch US allies.
The Turkish army has launched a large-scale
crackdown against the PKK in Turkey's east and
southeast and massed troops on the border with Iraq.
The PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
Kurdish-majority region in 1984. The conflict has
claimed more than 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.
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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 