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Massoud Barzani says no cold wind blowing
from Turkey anymore
8.5.2008
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May 8, 2008
Salahaddin, Kurdistan Region, 'Iraq',-- A
recent meeting with senior Turkish officials has
removed a "psychological barrier" in relations
between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds, Iraqi Kurdistan
president Massoud Barzani has said, in his first
remarks directly concerning the landmark meeting on
May 1.
Barzani was speaking in the resort town of
Salahaddin in Erbil, where he gathered on Tuesday
with executives from the branch offices of his
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) from Duhok
province.
Last week, Turkey's special envoy to Iraq, Murat
Özçelik, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's
chief foreign policy advisor, Ahmet Davutoglu, held
the first direct,
high-level meeting
with Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Iraqi
Kurdistan region in Baghdad. "A psychological
barrier existing in the middle [of relations] has
disappeared," Massoud Barzani was quoted as saying
to his party officials by the Salahaddin-based
Kurdistan TV, owned by the KDP. |
Massoud Barzani, the President of the autonomous Regional
Government of Kurdistan 'Iraq' |
"We expect other positive steps to be taken, too.
Relations with Turkey are getting better. Cold winds
blowing between the two sides disappeared after the
last meeting. The meeting was useful," he stated.
Ankara for many years has refused to have any
dialogue with the Iraqi Kurds,www.ekurd.net
saying they support the
Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
but the path for dialogue is now slowly reopening.
Turkey has stepped up action against the group since
December and has carried out several air strikes and
in February, thousands of Turkish troops, backed by tanks,
attack helicopters and warplanes,
crossed into Kurdistan region in northern
Iraq on February 21 in an operation which Ankara said was aimed at Turkey's Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas and their bases.
Turkish forces withdrew
from semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in 'northern
Iraq' on February 29, only a day after US President
George W. Bush
urged Ankara to
quickly wrap up the incursion and Defense Secretary
Robert Gates personally
put pressure on
Turkish leaders during a visit to Ankara.
On Sunday, Massoud Barzani was quoted as saying that
the PKK must end the violence and that Kurds want
dialogue with Ankara. Earlier this week, news
reports said the Iraqi Kurdistan government had
established security outposts on the border with
Turkey to prevent infiltration of PKK members into
Turkey.
"We want to have strong relations with neighboring
countries. However, sometimes this was victimized by
internal disputes of these countries. The Kurdish
issue can't be resolved with war. The solution comes
through dialogue and political and peaceful means.
Turkey's military operation in February into the
Kurdistan region was not nice. I am thankful to the
region's people,www.ekurd.net
who displayed a generous
manner during the operation. We are ready to help
all parties if the goal is a political solution,"
Barzani also told his party executives. In Ankara on
Tuesday, Erdogan said the government would
continue its dialogue
with all ethnic groups in Iraq, including Kurds, in
addition to the central government.
"Our dialogue with both the central government and
all groups will continue. We've been handling
seriously the issue of counterterrorism with its
political, economic and diplomatic dimensions in
addition to its security dimensions," Erdogan said,
while speaking at a parliamentary group meeting of
his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
"Iraq and Turkey have to act with an understanding
of mutual respect and confidence for overcoming
problems in regards to themselves and in regards to
the region," he added.
In the past,
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.
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.
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
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.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish politicians
say the measures fall short of their expectations.
Information for this report was provided by,
todayszaman com | AP | 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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