The Kurds

[Weltschmerz]

* The Kurdish population stands at about 20-25 million. It is concentrated in the parts of eastern Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq that make up the region known as Kurdistan. About 12 million Kurds live in the southeast region of Turkey alone.

More: Understanding the Turkey-Kurd Conflict

[Weltschmerz]

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates: Turkey gives US no timeframe on Iraqi Kurdistan operation 28.2.2008






February 28, 2008

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey has given no clear timeframe for ending its military operations against Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels in Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq', U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday after talks with Turkish officials.

Gates also reiterated Washington's call for the operation, now in its seventh day, to be as short and carefully targeted as possible.

"A specific timetable did not come up in my meeting with the defence minister, but I have three more meetings (today in Ankara)," Gates told reporters.
"It should be clear that military action alone will not end this terrorist threat,"www.ekurd.net he added, saying Ankara must also take political and economic steps to isolate the PKK guerrillas and help support Turkey's large ethnic Kurdish minority.

Turkey's Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul repeated Ankara's assurances that Turkish troops would withdraw from Iraq once they had accomplished their mission against the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"Turkish soldiers entered Iraqi territory only to fight PKK targets... We have no intention against civilians, no intention to occupy any areas," Gonul said, speaking in English.

Asked when the troops would leave, he said: "(When) the mission is completed. We have no intention to stay."

Over 10,000 troops were reported to have penetrated 20 kilometers into the autonomous Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq' on February 21.

Turkey rejects direct talks with Iraqi Kurdistan government, Officially, Turkey does not recognise the regional government of Kurdistan led by president Massoud Barzani.

Turkey has never, and still does not, recognize the Iraqi 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 core of Turkey's "Kurdish problem" is not the PKK. It is Turkey's denial of basic political and cultural rights to its Kurds.

Analysts believe the Turkish raids inside Iraqi Kurdistan region had a secondary purpose of discouraging a referendum on Kirkuk city. Ankara fears that if the oil-rich Kirkuk joins Kurdistan, the Kurds will have the economic foundation they need for an independent state.

Turks are also fearful of the autonomy the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region enjoys with its own flag, institutions and even oil exploitation contracts with overseas companies.

Iraqi Kurdistan politician says, Turkey is using Turkey's Kurdish separatist PKK rebel group (Kurdish freedom fighters) as an excuse to invade Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent the establishment of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish autonomous region in 'northern Iraq', Turkey fears this could fan separatism among its own large Kurdish population in southeast Turkey.

Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey. 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, granting them full political freedoms.

Information for this report was provided Reuters | AFP | Agencies

AP | AFP

Gates: Turkey gives US no timeframe on Iraqi Kurdistan operation

[Marcus Marulus]

This morning I heard it on the news that the Turkish troops withdrew from Northern Iraq.