June 7, 2007
AFP
The president of Iraq's Kurdistan region on Thursday rejected Ankara's
declaration that it was ready for dialogue with Iraqi Kurds provided they took
measures against Turkish Kurd rebels 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 rebels
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 rebels.
"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.
"Otherwise, there is no point in holding a
dialogue just for the sake of it," Bilman added.
Turkey has long pressed the United States and
Iraq to stamp out the PKK presence in the region and has even threatened to
carry out a cross-border operation if they fail to do so.
