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Once again Kurdish PKK rebels warn Iraq,
Turkey against crackdown
14.8.2007
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August
14, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- The
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Monday warned Iraq
and Turkey against launching any crackdown on the
separatist movement after both countries agreed to
end its safe haven on the frontier.
"The Iraqi government should not interfere in the
conflict between us and Turkey," spokesman Abdel
Rahman Chadarchi told AFP by telephone from the
Qandil mountains on the Iraq-Iran border.
"If they plan to strike at the PKK politically or
militarily, Iraq and Turkey will pay the price and
the crises in Iraq and Turkey will deepen," he added
without elaborating.
Chadarchi denied that his party received military
aid from either Iraqi Kurds or the United States.
On August 7 Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a
document of cooperation to end the safe haven that
separatist Turkish Kurd rebels enjoy in Kurdish-run
Kurdistan region (northern Iraq). |
Abdul Rahman Chadarchi (Jadarji), Top PKK official. The PKK took
up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. Turkey is home to over
25 million ethnic Kurds |
"We said (in the memorandum of understanding) that
we will cooperate against terrorist organisations,
notably the PKK," Maliki said in Ankara.
Turkey has threatened cross-border strikes at PKK
bases in neighbouring Kurdistan region (northern
Iraq) if Baghdad and Washington fail to curb the
rebels. The PKK has stepped up its attacks inside
Turkey this year.
Mahmoud Othman, a member of parliament from the
Kurdistan Coalition (KC), the second largest bloc in
the Iraqi parliament with 55 seats, commenting on a
recent agreement between Maliki and the Ankara
government during his visit to Turkey, said "we
flatly reject any military operation targeting PKK
inside the Kurdistan region's territories and this
is what we agreed on with Maliki before his
departure for Turkey."
"Turkey has been committing the crime of terrorism
against the Kurdish people since almost 100 years
and isn't granting them their rights." That's why
it's not sensible to describe the PKK as a terrorist
organization. Because the PKK is struggling against
the terrorism committed being committed by the
Turkish government,"
Othman said.
Abdul Rahman Chadarchi, a member of the PKK's
'diplomatic commission' in an interview with AKI
also said he hoped Iraq's prime minister would
renege a pledge made to Ankara to curb the PKK's
presence in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
"We don't want to harm the interests of our people
in Iraqi Kurdistan nor those of Iraq with Turkey,
even if we believe that the solution to Kurdish
issue in Turkey cannot be found in [Iraqi
Kurdistan's capital] Erbil, or in Baghdad, but in
Diyarbakir,"
Chadarchi said referring to the largest mainly
Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey.
Ankara says the PKK, which has been fighting for
self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since
1984, enjoys free movement in northern Iraq, where
it obtains weapons and explosives.
Turkey has accused the forces of Massoud Barzani,
the president of Kurdistan autonomous region, of
providing the PKK with weapons, possibly including
ammunition received from the United States.
AFP | | AKI | VOI
** 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).
Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule in
part of the country. Today's teenagers are the first
generation to grow up under Kurdish rule. Most Kurds
don’t speak Arabic, especially the younger
generation, the 2nd language in Kurdistan after
Kurdish is English language. In the new Iraqi
Constitution, it is referred to as Kurdistan region.
Kurdistan region has all the trappings of an
independent state -- its own constitution, its own
parliament, its own flag, its own army, its own
border patrol, its own national anthem, its own
education system, even its own stamp inked into the
passports of visitors.
**
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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