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Turkish officials meeting with Kurdistan
PM Nechirvan Barzani set to happen before summer
28.4.2008
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April
28, 2008
A long-awaited meeting between Turkish officials and
Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of
semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq',
will take place before the end of this spring, a
high-level Turkish official has said.
Remarks by the official came within days of a
meeting of Turkey's influential National Security
Council NSC-(MGK) that paved the way for talks
between Ankara and Iraqi Kurdistan government.
Last Thursday, Turkey's top political leaders and
military commanders discussed relations with
neighboring Iraq and
gave the green light
for talks with Iraqi Kurds after refusing for
several years to engage in dialogue with Kurdistan
officials on suspicion that they supported the
Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The high-level official declined to elaborate on who
Nechirvan Barzani's Turkish counterpart would be in
the upcoming meeting; yet,www.ekurd.net
as of Sunday Falah
Mustafa, director of foreign relations for the
regional Iraqi Kurdistan government, was quoted as
saying that Barzani and Turkey's special envoy to
Iraq, Murat Özçelik were expected to meet soon "for
discussing some political, economical and cultural
issues."
"This meeting was supposed to take place during
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani's visit to Baghdad.
However the meeting has been delayed due to
technical reasons," Mustafa was quoted as saying by
the Peyamner Web site in remarks delivered to the
Asharq Alawsat newspaper. Peyamner is affiliated
with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by
Iraqi Kurdistan region president Massoud Barzani,www.ekurd.net
who is also Nechirvan
Barzani's uncle.
Massoud Barzani, who has a long history of angering
Ankara with remarks interpreted as implicit support
for the PKK, has softened his usually harsh tone
while describing the state of relations with Turkey
in recent speeches -- particularly after a landmark
visit to Turkey by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in
early March.
Iraqi Kurds have
welcome the decision by
Turkey's influential National Security Council NSC (MGK)
that paves the way for talks between Ankara and
Iraqi Kurdistan government.
Last week, speaking about his recent contacts in
Baghdad with the Iraqi central government, Nechirvan
Barzani said he originally planned to have talks
with Turkish officials while in Baghdad. Since Iraqi
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was abroad, the
planned talks could not take place, he added,
without elaborating on which Turkish officials he
would have met with. "We want good relations with
neighboring countries. We especially want better
relations with Turkey," Barzani said.
"Our urgency for meeting with Iraqi Kurdish
officials is not solely related to the necessity of
holding a common stance against the PKK and
convincing them to come to the same point as the
central Iraqi government," the high-level Turkish
official, who requested anonymity, told Today's
Zaman.
"At the moment hundreds of Turkish companies are
doing business in northern Iraq; however, none of
those companies are of a size able to get involved
in the huge energy business. But with an energy hub
role, Turkey is eager to play a major role in the
transportation of Iraqi oil and gas through northern
Iraq. Such cooperation is related to Turkey's
willingness to have good-neighborly relations with
all of Iraq," the official added.
The MGK statement had noted on Thursday that
prospects for the deepening of bilateral cooperation
with Iraq, particularly in the field of energy, were
discussed at the meeting.
Turkey rejects direct talks with the official Iraqi
Kurdistan government on the crisis over the Turkey's
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.
Officially, Turkey does not recognise the regional
government of Kurdistan led by president Massoud
Barzani.
Turkey has never, and still does not, recognize the
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.
Since 1984 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
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision to place the Kurdish
rebel group PKK and its political wing on the
European Union's terror list.
Information for this report was provided,
todayszaman com,
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
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