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Iraqi Kurdish official rushes to Ankara to
pledge cooperation on counter PKK 21.10.2011 |
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October
21, 2011
ANKARA,— Nechirvan Barzani, the number
two of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and a
former prime minister of the Kurdistan regional
government in Iraq's north, arrived in Ankara on
Thursday to express solidarity and cooperation with
Turkey in its fight against the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK).
The Kurdish official said Massoud Barzani, the
president of Iraqi semi-autonomous Kurdistan region,
will also pay a visit to Turkey soon in a show of
cooperation with the Turkish state in its
counterterrorism efforts.
Barzani was in Ankara on Thursday meet with Turkish
Prime Minister
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Nechirvan Barzani, KDP leader and former Kurdistan
region premier |
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoğlu. Barzani's trip comes one day after a
series of attacks by the terrorist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey's southeast that left
24 soldiers dead. Davutoğlu received Barzani in the
morning at his office in Ankara and the two
reportedly discussed cooperation against the PKK.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with
Davutoğlu, Barzani said he rushed to Ankara to offer
the condolences of the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG) to Turkey. Stating that they believe that such
attacks do not serve the interests of either the
Turkish or Kurdish people,www.ekurd.net
he said such attacks should not damage
Kurdish-Turkish relations. Stating that bilateral
meetings with Turkish officials will be held more
often, Barzani underscored that the KRG's
cooperation with Turkey will expand in many areas.
The Kurdish official also praised the Turkish
government's democratic initiative, launched in 2009
to address the country's Kurdish issue by expanding
the rights of the Kurdish population, terming the
steps taken as part of the initiative as “bold.”
The Iraqi Kurdish politician is also scheduled to
meet with Erdoğan in the Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Thursday
condemned Wednesday's PKK assaults and said it would
cooperate with Turkey on maintaining security to
prevent such attacks in the future.
“The Iraqi government condemns the PKK's terrorist
acts ... and confirms again that Iraq will not be a
shelter and harbor any foreign terrorist armed
groups,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“The Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional
Government are committed to maintaining border
security and security cooperation with the Turkish
government to prevent such acts from being
repeated,” the statement said.
Iraqi officials in Baghdad say it is difficult for
them to control the rugged area where PKK rebels
have their camps. Turkish, Iraqi and US officials
meet often to discuss security.
According to Turkish officials, and in what has been
taken as a sign of deep mistrust, Davutoğlu told his
Iraqi counterpart Hoshiyar Zebari during a phone
conversation on Wednesday that “it is not time to
condemn,” but “to take concrete steps.”
Turkey launched a cross-border offensive against the
PKK after the group staged simultaneous attacks on
Turkish military and police targets along the border
on Wednesday, killing 24 Turkish soldiers and
wounding 18 others. About a dozen warplanes flew
several bombing sorties out of two military bases in
the country's southeast until sunrise.
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.
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