Iraq rejects Turkish call to curb PKK

Category Politics | Permalink | 8. June 2007

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SALAHEDDIN - The president of Iraq’s Kurdish region on Thursday rejected Ankara’s declaration that it was ready for dialogue with Iraqi Kurds provided they took measures against Kurdish terrorists holed up in the autonomous enclave.”We do not accept the conditions laid down to deal with the PKK. We have always said that we would help Turkey if it chooses the path of dialogue and we confirm this,” Massoud Barzani told a news conference alongside Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, also a Kurd.

“If Turkey’s aim is war, we are not prepared to accept these conditions,” Barzani added.

The PKK or Kurdistan Workers’ Party, branded as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has fought for self-rule in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Turkey charges that thousands of PKK terrorists have found refuge in northern Iraq where they are able to obtain weapons and explosives to launch attacks across the border.

Ankara accuses Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and even supporting the terrorists.

“A Turkish invasion would be first of all an attack on Iraqi sovereignty and then an attack on the Kurds,” said Barzani.

Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Levent Bilman said on Wednesday that “we need to see positive signals in order to take steps for dialogue, and by positive signals we mean serious steps against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

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