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PKK criticizes Iraqi FM, mocks PM
15.10.2011 |
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October 15, 2011
QANDIL, — Iraqi Foreign Minister’s recent
remarks about Kurdish PKK rebels were made under
pressure, a spokesman for the rebels said on Friday.
In a joint press conference in Ankara on Thursday,
Hoshyar Zebari Iraqi Foreign Minister and his
Turkish counterpart reiterated the commitment of
their countries to counter Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
rebels who are based in Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Zebari, a Kurd himself, told the reporters that the
presence of PKK in Iraq is ‘illegal
and unconstitutional’ and hoped the
disputes between Turkey and Iraq over PKK be settled
through ‘good neighborly relations.’
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PKK criticizes Iraqi FM, mocks PM |
Speaking to AKnews, Farhan Omar, a spokesman for PKK,
said his party is a national Kurdish party fighting
for rights of Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran.
‘It is PKK’s right to stay in [Iraqi] Kurdistan
because all Kurds are entitled to live there,’ Omar
said ‘we believe Zebari’s remarks were made under
pressure from some neighboring countries.’
Commenting on Maliki’s remarks about his
determination of expedite Iraqi army to fight PKK if
the rebel organization refused to stop guerrilla war
against Turkey from Iraq’s soil,www.ekurd.net
Omar said ‘this is something funny because no
country has been able to beat PKK.’
‘How can he [Maliki] do this while his army
encounters attacks daily and he cannot secure a
single southern province,’ PKK official wondered.
Since August 17, Turkish jets repeatedly carried out
air strikes against the Kurdish PKK separatist
group's bases in
Iraqi Kurdistan region,
under justification of chasing elements of the
anti-Ankara PKK, forcing large numbers
of Kurdish citizens of those areas to desert their home
villages, including
an air raid that
killed 7
Kurdish civilians in a village north
of Kurdistan’s Sulaimaniyah city on August 21st.
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been
fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the
constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a
Kurdish state in the south east of the country, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000
lives.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous
Kurdish region
and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who
constitute the greatest minority in Turkey,
numbering more than 20 million. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees,
lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the
way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within
Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader
Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against
the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish
constitution.
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.
The PKK is considered as '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.
AK news part of this article written by Karzan
Kareem
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