Tuesday, 14 August 2007, 05:30 EDT
A member of the PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) practices in a guerilla camp near Arbil, 2005. AFP/File/Mustafa Ozer
AFP
PKK warned Iraq and Turkey against launching any crackdown on them.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Monday warned Iraq and Turkey against launching any crackdown on the separatist movement after both countries agreed to end its safe haven on the frontier.
"The Iraqi government should not interfere in the conflict between us and Turkey," spokesman Abdel Rahman Chadarchi told AFP by telephone from the Qandil mountains on the Iraq-Iran border.
"If they plan to strike at the PKK politically or militarily, Iraq and Turkey will pay the price and the crises in Iraq and Turkey will deepen," he added without elaborating.
Chadarchi denied that his party received military aid from either Iraqi Kurds or the United States.
On August 7 Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a document of cooperation to end the safe haven that separatist Turkish Kurd rebels enjoy in Kurdish-run Kurdistan region (northern Iraq).
"We said (in the memorandum of understanding) that we will cooperate against terrorist organisations, notably the PKK," Maliki said in Ankara.
Turkey has threatened cross-border strikes at PKK bases in neighbouring Kurdistan region (northern Iraq) if Baghdad and Washington fail to curb the rebels. The PKK has stepped up its attacks inside Turkey this year.
Mahmoud Othman, a member of parliament from the Kurdistan Coalition (KC), the second largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament with 55 seats, commenting on a recent agreement between Maliki and the Ankara government during his visit to Turkey, said "we flatly reject any military operation targeting PKK inside the Kurdistan region's territories and this is what we agreed on with Maliki before his departure for Turkey."
"Turkey has been committing the crime of terrorism against the Kurdish people since almost 100 years and isn't granting them their rights." That's why it's not sensible to describe the PKK as a terrorist organization. Because the PKK is struggling against the terrorism committed being committed by the Turkish government," Othman said.
Abdul Rahman Chadarchi, a member of the PKK's 'diplomatic commission' in an interview with AKI also said he hoped Iraq's prime minister would renege a pledge made to Ankara to curb the PKK's presence in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
"We don't want to harm the interests of our people in Iraqi Kurdistan nor those of Iraq with Turkey, even if we believe that the solution to Kurdish issue in Turkey cannot be found in [Iraqi Kurdistan's capital] Erbil, or in Baghdad, but in Diyarbakir," Chadarchi said referring to the largest mainly Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey.
Ankara says the PKK, which has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984, enjoys free movement in northern Iraq, where it obtains weapons and explosives.
Turkey has accused the forces of Massoud Barzani, the president of Kurdistan autonomous region, of providing the PKK with weapons, possibly including ammunition received from the United States.
"The Iraqi government should not interfere in the conflict between us and Turkey," spokesman Abdel Rahman Chadarchi told AFP by telephone from the Qandil mountains on the Iraq-Iran border.
"If they plan to strike at the PKK politically or militarily, Iraq and Turkey will pay the price and the crises in Iraq and Turkey will deepen," he added without elaborating.
Chadarchi denied that his party received military aid from either Iraqi Kurds or the United States.
On August 7 Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a document of cooperation to end the safe haven that separatist Turkish Kurd rebels enjoy in Kurdish-run Kurdistan region (northern Iraq).
"We said (in the memorandum of understanding) that we will cooperate against terrorist organisations, notably the PKK," Maliki said in Ankara.
Turkey has threatened cross-border strikes at PKK bases in neighbouring Kurdistan region (northern Iraq) if Baghdad and Washington fail to curb the rebels. The PKK has stepped up its attacks inside Turkey this year.
Mahmoud Othman, a member of parliament from the Kurdistan Coalition (KC), the second largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament with 55 seats, commenting on a recent agreement between Maliki and the Ankara government during his visit to Turkey, said "we flatly reject any military operation targeting PKK inside the Kurdistan region's territories and this is what we agreed on with Maliki before his departure for Turkey."
"Turkey has been committing the crime of terrorism against the Kurdish people since almost 100 years and isn't granting them their rights." That's why it's not sensible to describe the PKK as a terrorist organization. Because the PKK is struggling against the terrorism committed being committed by the Turkish government," Othman said.
Abdul Rahman Chadarchi, a member of the PKK's 'diplomatic commission' in an interview with AKI also said he hoped Iraq's prime minister would renege a pledge made to Ankara to curb the PKK's presence in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
"We don't want to harm the interests of our people in Iraqi Kurdistan nor those of Iraq with Turkey, even if we believe that the solution to Kurdish issue in Turkey cannot be found in [Iraqi Kurdistan's capital] Erbil, or in Baghdad, but in Diyarbakir," Chadarchi said referring to the largest mainly Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey.
Ankara says the PKK, which has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984, enjoys free movement in northern Iraq, where it obtains weapons and explosives.
Turkey has accused the forces of Massoud Barzani, the president of Kurdistan autonomous region, of providing the PKK with weapons, possibly including ammunition received from the United States.
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