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Iran wants joint action with Turkey
against Kurdish PKK rebels
14.3.2008
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March 14, 2008
Iran, Iraq and Turkey should work together to defeat
Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels while respecting each
other's territorial integrity and ensuring civilians
are not harmed, Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said on Thursday.
Turkey launched an eight-day
cross-border offensive into
Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' last
month after it said the Iraqi authorities had failed
to stop some 3,000 members of the Turkey's
separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from
staging attacks on Turkish territory. The central
Baghdad government has little sway in semi-autonomous,www.ekurd.net
kurdistan region in
northern Iraq. |
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |
Iraqi Kurdistan forces chief Brig. Gen. Jabbar Yawar,
an undersecretary for the ministry governing
Kurdistan protection forces known as Peshmerga, said
earlier "Turkey wants imaginary and impossible
demands. They want us to kill all PKK for them while
they themselves cannot do that," .
The speaker of the Kurdish parliament, Adnan
al-Mufti said earlier, Turkey is not really after
the PKK rebels but wanted to eliminate the idea of
an autonomous Kurdistan.
Iranian forces, which have also often clashed in
Iraqi Kurdistan border areas with rebels from an
offshoot of the PKK, reinforced Iran's border
security in the wake of the Turkish offensive
apparently fearing the separatists might seek safety
in Iran.
Speaking at a summit of the 57-nation Organisation
of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Senegal's capital
Dakar, Ahmadinejad said the three countries needed
to work together if the PKK separatists were to be
defeated.
"Iraq, Turkey and Iran should join forces to drive
out the terrorists on the condition that territorial
integrity should not be compromised and secondly
that innocent people should not be harmed," he said,
speaking in Farsi.
Iraqi Kurdistan politician says, both Turkey and
Iran are using
Turkey's Kurdish separatist PKK rebel group and Iran's Kurdish PJAK as an
excuse to invade Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent
the establishment of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish
autonomous region in 'northern Iraq', Turkey and Iran fears
this could fan separatism among its own large
Kurdish population.
PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan), Since
2004 PJAK took up arms for self-rule in the
country's mainly Kurdistan province northwestern of
Iran (Iranian Kurdistan). Half the members of PJAK are women.
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.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani pledged support for
Turkey in its fight against the PKK during a visit
to Ankara which followed the Turkish offensive.
Ahmadinejad travelled to Iraq for historic talks at
the start of March, making him the first Iranian
president since the 1979 revolution to visit Iraq.
Reuters | AFP | Agencies
**
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 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
PJAK
The present leader of the organisation is Haji
Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the
members of PEJAK are women, many of them still in
their teens, and one of the female members of the
leadership council is Gulistan Dugan, a psychology
graduate from the University of Tehran. This is due
primarily to the fact that PEJAK is strongly
supportive of women's rights. PEJAK believes that
women must have a strong role in government and must
be on an equal level with men in leadership
positions.
More about PEJAK- Party for a
Free Life in Kurdistan
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