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Iraqi Foreign Minister says 140,000
Turkish troops on border
9.7.2007
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July
9, 2007
BAGHDAD,-- The Turkish army has 140,000
soldiers along its border with Kurdistan region
(northern Iraq) as part of a "great mobilisation",
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on
Monday.
Turkey's armed forces have urged its government to
allow an incursion into neighbouring, mainly
Kurdish, northern Iraq to crush up to 4,000 Turkish
Kurdish PKK militants who believed use the region as
a base to attack security and civilian targets
inside Turkey.
Rumours of a possible Turkish incursion have rattled
financial markets and have drawn warnings from the
United States, Ankara's NATO ally, to stay out of
Iraq.
"There is a great mobilisation on Iraq's northern
international border that the security services and
intelligence (agencies) estimate at more than
140,000 military personnel with all sorts of
equipment," Zebari told a news conference. |
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari |
Asked to confirm the number, Zebari, who is himself
a Kurd, said it was 140,000.
While Turkey has not said how many troops had been
sent to the border, it had been believed to be in
the tens of thousands.
Tensions have soared along the mountainous border
region following an upsurge in attacks across Turkey
that Ankara has blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
militants.
IRAQ WANTS DIALOGUE
Zebari said Iraq wanted dialogue to resolve the
issue.
"The government's stance on this is clear. We are
against any interference or breach of Iraqi
sovereignty from neighbouring states," Zebari said.
"We understand Turkey's legitimate fears over the
activities of the Workers Party and view this issue
as negotiable. There is a joint Iraqi, American and
Turkish security committee and it is the appropriate
body to solve all the issues and problems between
the two countries. We are ready to host the
activities of this committee in Baghdad."
Turkey's military is known to sometimes shell PKK
targets inside Iraq, as well as stage small raids
across the border.
Washington, while classing the PKK as a terrorist
group, fears any major operation by Turkey in
autonomous region of Kurdistan (northern Iraq) could
anger Iraqi Kurdish allies and stoke wider conflict
in a relatively peaceful region of the war-torn
country.
Iraq has previously said its security forces were
badly stretched tackling unrelenting violence
elsewhere, and did not have spare troops to send to
the border region.
Turkey's centre-right government is under mounting
public pressure to take tough action as July 22
parliamentary elections loom. Nationalist parties
are expected to do well in the polls.
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Reuters
** 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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