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Once again, Turkey warns of possible incursion into
Iraqi Kurdistan after elections
22.7.2007 |
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July
22, 2007
ANKARA, -- Turkey warned Saturday that it
could send troops into Kurdistan (northern Iraq)
after Sunday's general elections if talks with Iraqi
and US officials fail to produce effective measures
against Kurdish PKK rebels based there.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he
invited his Iraqi counterpart
Nuri al-Maliki to visit Ankara after
the vote to discuss the presence of Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in Kurdistan (northern
Iraq_.
Accusing Washington of failing to fulfill its pledge
of curbing the PKK, Erdogan said he would seek
trilateral talks in order to resolve the problem.
"We will ask them to take whatever steps are
necessary, or we will do whatever is necessary,"
Erdogan told the Kanal-7 television network.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Ankara
would not hesitate to act to eliminate the threat
posed by the PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation
by both Ankara and Washington.
On Tuesday, a key leader of Kurdish PKK separatists
said a Turkish cross-border attack into Iraqi
Kurdistan would be a
"strategic mistake"
and called for talks to end more than two decades of
fighting. Abdul Rahman Chaderchi, a senior official
of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), said a strike
into Kurdistan "northern Iraq" would unite Kurds on
either side of the border against Turkey and bring
Turkish troops face-to-face with U.S. forces
stationed in Kurdistan region (northern Iraq).
"Our aim is not to enter Iraq, but to neutralize the
terrorist organization," Gul told the TGRT
television channel. "We will use our right (to
self-defence) as long as the terrorist organization
continues to harm Turkey."
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.
The rebels have stepped up their attacks this year
and the army has massed troops on the border with
Iraqi Kurdistan region, fuelling speculation of a
crossborder operation.
In the latest fighting, PKK rebels armed with rocket
launchers attacked a police checkpoint late Friday
in the southeastern town of Semdinli, close to the
border with Iraq and Iran, the Anatolia news agency
reported.
Two police officers were slightly injured in the
attack, it said.
Mounting PKK violence has been a dominant campaign
issue ahead of Sunday's vote, with the opposition
accusing Erdogan and his Justice and Development
Party (AKP) for being soft on the rebels.
Some government ministers have been the targets of
protest by angry crowds at funerals for soldiers
slain in fighting with the rebels.
Opinion surveys tip the AKP to win Sunday's
elections and secure a second term in power, with
some suggesting that it may garner more than 40
percent of the vote for a solid parliamentary
majority.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP)
and the right-wing Nationalist Action Party (MHP),
which both advocate a tougher stance against the PKK,
are expected to make it into parliament as well.
Ankara says the rebels enjoy safe haven in "northern
Iraq", where they obtain weapons and explosives for
cross-border attacks against Turkish targets.
It also accuses northern Iraqi Kurds of turning a
blind eye to the PKK presence on their territory,
and even of supporting the rebels.
Washington opposes any Turkish military action,
fearing this could destabilise the relatively
peaceful region and further strain already tense
ties between Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds, staunch
allies of the United States.
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).
AFP | 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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