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Washington describes Iraq-Turkey agreement
as "positive step"
9.8.2007
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August 9, 2007
WASHINGTON, -- The United States described on
Wednesday the counterterrorism agreement signed
between Iraq and Turkey as "a very positive step" in
dealing with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in
Iraqi Kurdistan border mountains with Turkey.
"What's heartening about this is that this is now
Turkey and Iraq directly engaging on the issue of
fighting the PKK at the highest levels", said State
Department spokesperson Sean McCormack noting that
"there should be more to follow".
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and his Turkish
counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan
signed yesterday a memorandum of
understanding calling for the end of the presence of
the PKKs militants in Iraq.
He affirmed that PKK is "a terrorist group operating
in a territory" that needs this bilateral
cooperation since "it is in the interests of both
countries to fight this problem".
In a related topic, McCormack said that US-Iranian
talks did not achieve any tangible results yet after
two meetings between US ambassador to Iraq Ryan
Crocker and the Iranian ambassador to Iraq Hassan
Kazemi in Baghdad.
"Thus far our diplomatic engagement through the
channel that Ambassador Crocker has set up hasn't
yielded positive results", he said noting that there
was even increase in the rate of attacks.
"It is our hope that Iran would in fact match its
actions with its stated desire to have greater
strategic stability in Iraq", he concluded.
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. Kurds constitute about
20 percent of Turkey's more than 70 million people.
The United States and the European Union, like
Turkey, class the PKK as a "terrorist organisation"
kuna net.kw
** 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. Kurds
constitute about 20 percent of Turkey's more than 70
million people.
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).
**
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.
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.
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)
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