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Turkish PM may meet with Kurdish officials
during Iraq visit
25.6.2008
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June
25, 2008
ANKARA, Turkey, — Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may meet with a senior
Kurdish official during an upcoming visit to
neighboring Iraq, a news report said Tuesday.
Erdogan is expected to pay an official visit to the
Iraqi capital next week and have talks with both
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki.
Dr Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish legislator, member of
Iraqi parliament from the Kurdish Alliance, the
largest of the Kurdish blocs in the Iraqi
legislature, has suggested that Erdogan would also
meet with Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of
the largely autonomous Kurdistan region in "northern
Iraq", while in Baghdad. Sources in the Iraqi
Kurdistan's capital, Erbil told the Cihan news
agency that the visit will take place on July 4.
In Ankara, officials from the Prime Ministry,
speaking with Today's Zaman on condition of
anonymity, declined to elaborate on the exact date
of the expected visit, citing security reasons. "We
can neither confirm nor deny media reports
concerning the visit at the moment," the same
officials said.
"Several economic and commercial agreements will be
signed between Iraq and Turkey," Othman was quoted
as saying by PUK media, a media organ affiliated
with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Officials in Ankara declined to comment on whether
Erdogan would have any contact with Iraqi Kurdish
officials.
Suspecting that they support the rebels from
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Ankara has
long refused to have dialogue with Iraqi Kurds.
However, two senior Turkish officials broke the ice
and had the first high-level direct talks with the
Kurdistani administration, meeting with Nechirvan
Barzani in Baghdad on May 1. But Iraqi Kurdistan
region president Massoud Barzani raised the eyebrows
in Ankara once again earlier this week, saying the
PKK is not a terrorist
organization.
Responding to questions on possible contacts with
Iraqi Kurds, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar
Büyükanit declined to comment, saying diplomacy was
not his area, but, in an apparent reference to
Barzani's remarks, he suggested that the Kurds must
recognize the PKK as a "terrorist" group. "I look at
the issue from a military perspective. I am the head
of an institution that fights against terrorism,"
Büyükanit told reporters. "I leave it to you to
consider what it means to refuse to call the PKK,
which has caused many deaths and significant damage,
a terrorist organization. If it is not a terrorist
organization, then we should call no organization on
earth a terrorist organization. It is the bloodiest
terrorist organization ever."
But he was optimistic about the possible
implications of Erdogan's visit to Iraq on relations
with the neighboring country. "We as the military
are in touch with the Iraqi central administration,
too. We are trying to develop our relations with the
central administration," Büyükanit said.
Turkey rejects direct talks with the official Iraqi
Kurdistan government on the crisis over the Turkey's
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.
Turkey rejects direct talks with Iraqi Kurdistan
government, Officially, Turkey does not recognise
the regional government of Kurdistan led by
president Massoud Barzani. Iraqi Kurdistan region
enjoys with its own flag, institutions and even oil
exploitation contracts with overseas companies.
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. The use of the term "Kurdistan" is
vigorously rejected due to its alleged political
implications by the Republic of Turkey.
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 fighting the Turkish
army. 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,
todayszamancom | 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)
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