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Gates backs Turkey's PKK fight
9.2.2010 |
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February
9, 2010
ANKARA, —
Washington supports Ankara in its effort to tackle
Kurdish guerrillas, but military action is not the
only solution available, the U.S. defense secretary
said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Turkish
officials in Ankara during the weekend, saying he
would propose a supporting role for the military
effort against guerrillas with the Turkey Kurdistan
Workers' Party,www.ekurd.netor
PKK, operating along the Iraqi border with Turkey,
Voice of America reports.
"I offered, during my visit here, to, when I return
to Washington, to see if there are more capabilities
we can share with Turkey, in terms of taking on this
threat," he said.
Washington in 2007 offered to share sensitive
intelligence with Ankara regarding PKK activity
inside Iraqi territory.
Gates, striking a common theme in U.S.
counterinsurgency strategy, said Ankara could find
success by trying to convince some PKK fighters to
lay down their weapons. |
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, right, and
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, left, pose for
photographers as they inspect a military guard of
honor before their talks in Ankara, Turkey,
Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. AP Photo |
"Trying to identify
those in the PKK who are prepared to rejoin society
and abandon violence, and to reach out to them is a
very positive thing," he said.
Ankara in 2009 embraced a democratic initiative
meant to allay the concerns from the Kurdish
minority community in Turkey. An amnesty offer was
considered for PKK guerrillas.
That effort was complicated, however, by a Turkish
court decision to ban a pro-Kurdish political party
from politics, sparking widespread protests in the
Kurdish south in December.
Since 1984 PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey
(Turkey-Kurdistan) which has claimed around 45,000
lives of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas. A large Turkey's Kurdish community
openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
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.
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,www.ekurd.net
the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
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.
Last August, the government announced plans to expand
Kurdish freedoms in a bid to erode popular support
for the PKK and end the insurgency.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, upi com | Agencies
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