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Turkish Government delays plans to enter Iraqi
Kurdistan until after elections
11.7.2007 |
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Turkey postponed cross-border operation into
Kurdistan until after Turkish elections
July
11, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey, -- Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the
Turkish Prime Minister, Tuesday denied any immediate
plans to authorise a military invasion in Kurdistan
(northern Iraq).
But he hinted that once elections have taken place
later this month that he would reassess Turkey’s
options.
Mr Erdogan’s comments came amid growing speculation
that massed Turkish troops will make good a threat
to move across the border to clamp down on
separatist Kurdish rebels who use bases there for
attacks into Turkey.
Asked if he would reconvene Parliament to authorise
military action, a move that would be popular with
Turkish public, he said: “Not now. We have 12 days
to elections... At the moment our agenda for that
period does not contain the issue of (Parliamentary)
permission (for an incursion).”
But he refused to rule out the prospect, adding:
“This does not mean that it will never happen. We
will not hesitate to take any required steps in this
regard whenever it should become necessary. But the
relevant organs and institutions have not yet
reported to us regarding the steps that would make
this a necessity.”
Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, had
earlier given warning that 140,000 Turkish troops
were massed in Turkey’s border region, ready for
attack. He urged Ankara to withdraw and join talks
over the problem of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
rebels exploiting Iraqi chaos to hurt Turkey.
Turkey has not directly responded to the statement,
but officials assert Ankara’s right to invade if the
US and Iraq do not stem the flow of guerrillas and
weapons across the border.
The US, which has repeatedly warned Turkey to stay
out of northern Iraq, was sceptical about Mr
Zebari’s figures, which would put the number of
Turkish troops poised on the border on a par with
the total number of American troops in Iraq.
Ankara is anxious to prevent the emergence of a
Kurdish state in Kurdistan region (northern Iraq),
fearing this could fan separatism among its own
large Kurdish population in southeast Turkey .
Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using a Kurdish
separatist PKK rebel group as an excuse to invade
Kurdistan region (Iraq) to prevent the establishment
of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish autonomous region
in (northern Iraq).
The military often mounts spring and summer
operations against the PKK in mainly Kurdish
southeastern Turkey – also unofficially foraying
into northern Iraq -- and boosts its border strength
by several thousands every time.
But even a major cross-border incursion 10 years
ago, publicly acknowledged by Turkey, stretched to
no more than 35,000 troops. Locals on both sides of
the border have reported an increase to the normal
troop levels.
According to the Turkish media, Abdullah Gul, the
Foreign Minister, spoke to Condoleezza Rice, the US
Secretary of State, on Friday to tell her that
Ankara was running out of patience with the failure
to stop a recent rise in attacks on civilian and
military targets in Turkey.
Turkish military figures, including Yasar Buyukanit,
the hawkish Chief of General Staff, have
consistently spoken of the need to go into Kurdistan
(northern Iraq) and ’clean up’ the PKK guerrillas
which have found refuge there.
Opposition politicians – many of whom will be
tapping into rising nationalist sentiment at
elections on July 22 -- have also been baying for
blood. In this atmosphere, the Government has not
shied from hailing warnings on the US administration
and vowing to act.
But it is unclear how possible the
frequently-threatened prospect of an invasion really
is – unless it becomes a knee-jerk reaction to some
future PKK atrocity in Turkey.
The military, no doubt aware of the strategic and
political drawbacks of any well-signalled invasion
against a bunch of guerrillas with plenty of
knowledge of the mountainous terrain and time to
prepare, has been urging the politicians to make the
decision, while the politicians, unwilling to take
any rap themselves, appear to defer to the
military’s judgment.
With the elections following a highly-charged and
still unresolved row over the presidency between a
Government accused of a hidden Islamist agenda and
the secular elite that includes the military and
opposition politicians, the prospect of an incursion
and its implications have become a powerful
campaigning tool.
Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK) has
been coming under pressure to show more mettle in
the fight against the PKK.
Nationalist alarmists are already warning that AK,
which is widely predicted to win the elections, will
work with Kurdish independents in the new Parliament
in an unholy alliance of Islam and separatism – the
twin domestic bogeymen the Turkish nation looks to
the military to guard against.
timesonline co.uk | Agencies
** 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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