"The Turkish military does not want
a political dialogue. On the contrary they want more tension to assert their
power. Why is Turkey's hostility towards Iraqi Kurdistan? Is it because we
are the real problem in Ankara's eyes and not the PKK?. You (Ankara) do not
speak to me, then you ask me to do things against the PKK. How can this be?
I am a friend of Turkey but I am not taking orders from Turkey or anyone
else"
Barzani asked.
More...
The U.S. military in
Southern Kurdistan is staying out of the fight between PKK fighters and
Turkey. Major General Benjamin Mixon, the top American commander in the
region, says it's not the U.S. military's responsibility to act. He said he
plans to do "absolutely nothing" to counter the PKK activity. Mixon told
Pentagon reporters by videoconference from a base in Southern Kurdistan that
he's sent no additional U.S. troops to the area and that he's not tracking
hiding places or logistics activities of the PKK, reported AP today.
Asked if the Turkish forces could inflict damage on the PKK, one of its
fighters, called Intikam, said: "Three out of five of our fighters are
hiding in the mountains in Turkish occupied-Kurdistan and, if the Turkish
army cannot find them there, it will hardly find them here in Southern
Kurdistan."
More...
US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington hoped both sides (Turks
and KRG) would find a way to defuse the tensions. "It's very difficult
because these people are in very remote areas of Iraqi Kurdistan,
but that is not an excuse," she told the House of Representatives Foreign
Relations Committee, reported AFP.
Barham Saleh, who visited the White House on Monday, said at a Brookings
appearance, "My worry is that there are demands of the KRG [Kurdistan Regional
Government] and the Iraqi government to 'fight the PKK.' That could well be a
recipe for an open-ended conflict in which we will not win and will basically
destabilize the only stable part of Iraq."
KRG spokesman Qubad Talabani said, "Everyone's passing the buck. The Turks want
the U.S. to do something, the U.S. wants us to do something, and we don't think
we can do anything. We fought the PKK in the '90s with the full force of the
Turkish military and couldn't eradicate them."
More...
The Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, said he wanted the situation to be
resolved peacefully between PKK and Turkey but had already ruled handing
over any PKK members to Turkey. "We have appealed to the PKK to desist
fighting and transform themselves from a military organization into a
civilian and political one. We will not hand any Kurdish man to
Turkey, even a Kurdish cat," he said.
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a
Turky's Erdogan warned in an interview published Monday that if the US does not
attack PKK in Southern Kurdistan soon "America might lose a very important
friend." The US presence in Iraq had also fuelled resentment, he added,
assessing that Washington had failed to meet its objectives since invading in
March 2003. "There's no success that I can see. Theres only the death of tens
of thousands of people. There's just an Iraq whose entire infrastructure and
superstructure has collapsed," Erdogan said
"We frankly say to all parties: if they attack the region of Kurdistan under
whatever pretext, we will be completely ready to defend our democratic
experiment and the dignity of our people and the sanctity of our homeland,"
Mr Barzani said.
More...
Turkey approved a possible cross-border offensive. In Washington, President
Bush said the United States was making clear to Turkey it should not send a
massive number of troops into Iraq. Bush said Turkey has had troops
stationed in Iraq "for quite a while." "We don't think it's in their
interest to send more troops in. Turkish Prime Minister dismissed Bush's
comments. "What's important is the parliament's decision, not what people
say." More...
Turkey has asked its
ambassador in Washington to return to Turkey for consultations over a U.S.
House panel's approval of a bill describing the
World War I-era mass killings of Armenians as genocide, a Foreign
Ministry spokesman said Thursday, reported AP
-----------------------------
Commenting on the US vote on Armenian genocide, Turkish regime said Thursday
that "It is not possible to accept such an accusation of a crime which was
never committed by the Turkish nation. It is blatantly obvious that the US
House Committee on Foreign Affairs does not have a task or function to
rewrite history by distorting a matter which specifically concerns the
common history of Turks and Armenians."
A United States
congressional committee has approved a resolution that describes the
massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I as "genocide".
Turkey's military on Tuesday pressed ahead with a major offensive against
Kurdish forces in Northern Kurdistan. The Turkish state-run Anatolia news
agency said Turkish troops have been tracking down Kurdish forces in the
Gabar, Cudi, Namaz and Kato mountains, in Shirnakh province. Helicopter
gunships were also deployed, reported Associated Press.
Thirteen Turkish soldiers were killed Sunday in an attack took place in
Shirnak province, Northern Kurdistan by Kurdish guerrillas, Turkish army
said in a statement, reported Associated Press.
The Kurdish daily newspaper, Awene reported today that Dr. Najmaldin Karim,
a well-known Kurdish figure is considered the strongest contender to replace
Prime Minster Nechirvan Barzani when his term ends next February. According
to the source, President Talabani and the vice president of Southern
Kurdistan Mr. Kosrat Rsaul, who are now in the United States, will discuss
this issue with Dr. Karim in Washington.
