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Iraq's Kurdistan PM warns Turkey over
buffer zone
9.10.2008
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October 9, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region "Iraq", —
A senior Iraqi Kurdish official warned Turkey on
Thursday against stationing troops inside Iraqi
autonomous Kurdistan region and said such a move
would not stop cross-border raids by Turkey's
Kurdish PKK guerrillas.
New attacks on Turkish security forces by Turkey's
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels based in Iraqi
Kurdistan have strained ties between Baghdad and
Ankara,www.ekurd.net
which accuses its
neighbour of not doing enough to combat the
separatists.
Anger over PKK attacks is mounting in Turkey, and
opposition parties are calling on the government to
set up a buffer zone inside Kurdistan region
"northern Iraq" to prevent rebels from crossing the
border.
"I think this (buffer zone) would not change the
situation. This is also practically not easy because
it's a mountainous region. Other alternatives should
be found for the solution of the problem," Nechirvan
Barzani,www.ekurd.net
who heads the Iraqi
Kurdish regional government, told Turkish state news
agency Anatolian. |
Nechirvan Barzani, Prime
Minister of
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) |
Turkey's parliament on
Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a government
request to give the military the green light to
carry out operations against PKK bases in Kurdistan
"northern Iraq" for another year,www.ekurd.net
days after a
cross-border attack killed 17 soldiers.
Another attack by the PKK that killed four police
trainees and a civilian on the outskirts of the main
city of Diyarbakir in Turkey's southeast has further
put pressure on authorities.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday it
was up to the military to decide on the buffer zone,
although both government and army have downplayed
such a move, which would anger its allies, the
United States and the European Union.
Turkish civilian and military leaders will meet on
Thursday to discuss measures to take against the PKK,
and Turkish newspapers said the option of a buffer
zone would be included.
Opposition nationalist parties, and retired generals
have been floating the idea of setting up a buffer
zone for at least two years, but have stepped up
calls in recent days.
General Hasan Igsiz, deputy chief of Turkey's
military staff, appeared to pour cold water on the
issue.
"This is not as easy as some people think, and to
implement it would not be as easy as some people
think. We would have to hold the territory and we
would loose mobility capability in the southeast,"
Igsiz told reporters on Sunday.
NATO member Turkey has staged almost daily
airstrikes against suspected PKK bases in Iraq since
the ambush on Friday, the worst single attack on the
military in more than a year.
A similar attack on a border post last year led
Turkey to launch a brief large scale land operation
in Iraq.
Washington and Brussels are worried prolonged
Turkish operations in Kurdistan region "northern
Iraq" would hurt the region.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul, in a visit to
Finland on Wednesday, said the mandate would be used
solely against "pinpointed targets" of the PKK.
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.
Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional
government that holds sway in northern Iraq,
regretted Ankara's refusal to hold direct talks on
the crisis over the Turkey's separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.
In earlier statement by Iraqi Kurdistan forces chief
Brig. Gen. Jabbar Yawar, an undersecretary for the
ministry governing Kurdistan protection forces known
as Peshmerga, said "Turkey wants imaginary and
impossible demands. They want us to kill all PKK for
them while they themselves cannot do that," he said.
Iraqi Kurds says previously we saw the Turkish army
invading the region under the pretext of chasing the
PKK and this army did nothing.
Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey (Turkey-Kurdistan). 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.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, Reuters
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