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White House urges short Turkish incursion
to Iraqi Kurdistan
26.2.2008
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February 26, 2008
WASHINGTON, -- The Turkish incursion into
Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' to try to hunt down
Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels who
have launched attacks inside Turkey should be
limited, the White House said on Monday .
"It's obviously not an ideal situation," White House
spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters. "We hope
that this is a short-term incursion so that they can
help deal with the threat."
The White House hopes Turkey's latest armed raids in
Kurdistan will not harm civilians,www.ekurd.net
a spokeswoman said on
Monday. |
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino |
She said that U.S. officials were in contact with
the Turkish government and praised the dialogue
between Ankara and Iraqi leaders over the problem.
"We are in communication and dialogue with them to
make sure that this is handled in a way that is
narrow, narrowly targeted,www.ekurd.net
to hit the PKK and to
limit and hopefully cause no civilian casualties,"
she said.
Ankara launched a ground
incursion on Thursday in a remote
part of Iraq's largely autonomous region of
Kurdistan to track down PKK rebels. The PKK has used
the area as a base to stage attacks inside Turkey in
pursuit of its goal of a Kurdish homeland in
southeastern Turkey.
Bush's administration has said that Turkey
coordinated with US forces in Iraq when launching
its crackdown on the PKK. Iraq's government urged
Turkey to pull out as soon as possible, saying the
incursion threatens its sovereignty.
"The ideal situation would
be that the PKK no longer exists in Iraq," Perino
said.
Turkey rejects direct talks with Iraqi Kurdistan
government, Officially, Turkey does not recognise
the regional government of Kurdistan led by
president Massoud Barzani.
Turkey has never, and still does not, recognize the
Iraqi Kurdistan region government (KRG) and refuses to
meet with its representatives in any official
capacity. That reflects Ankara's fear that any
international respect shown to the autonomous Iraqi
Kurdistan region would only embolden Turkey's own
large Kurdish minority to seek similar home-rule
status.
Iraqi Kurdistan politician says, Turkey is using
Turkey's 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',Turkey fears
this could fan separatism among its own large
Kurdish population in southeast Turkey.
Analysts believe the Turkish raids inside Iraqi
Kurdistan region had a secondary purpose of
discouraging a referendum on Kirkuk city. Ankara
fears that if the oil-rich Kirkuk joins Kurdistan,
the Kurds will have the economic foundation they
need for an independent state.
Over 39,000 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. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish
PKK rebels.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by
the U.S. and the EU.
Reuters | AFP
**
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, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community 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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