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PKK harms ties with Turkey, says Maliki |
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Thursday, 25 December 2008Stressing the importance attached by Baghdad to its relations with Ankara, visiting Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki yesterday stated that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has bases in Iraq, has tried to harm the relationship between the two neighboring countries.
Maliki, accompanied by six ministers from his cabinet, held talks in Ankara both with President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Al-Maliki's first stop in the capital was the Çankaya presidential palace.
While mentioning that an improvement in bilateral relations with Turkey is a priority for his government, al-Maliki told Gül that they have been aware that the halting of PKK terrorist activities launched from Iraqi territory to attack Turkey first needs to take place in order to be able to improve relations with Turkey, sources close to the talks told Today's Zaman.
"The activity of the PKK is aimed at harming bilateral relations between Iraq and Turkey. On this issue, we have the same view as Turkey," al-Maliki said. In response, Gül described the PKK as "a danger [that is] sowing seeds of discord between people of the two countries," the same sources said.
While pledging the continuation of efforts to facilitate investment opportunities for the Turkish business sector in Iraq, including in Basra, the Iraqi prime minister reiterated his pleasure over Turkey's plans to open a consulate general in Basra. Al-Maliki also voiced the eagerness of Iraq to host Gül for an official visit to Baghdad as soon as possible.
Gül had to delay a visit to Iraq, scheduled to take place in December, after doctors told him to avoid plane trips until mid-January due to a recurring ear ailment. In Ankara on Tuesday, asked whether he was planning to visit Iraq in January, Gül said: "Of course I will go. You know we had to postpone it."
Sources from the Çankaya palace said yesterday that Gül could go to Baghdad during the second-half of January, doctors permitting, noting that arranging the visit before Jan. 31 local government elections in Iraq would not pose a particular problem.
The same sources also said recent remarks by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, which indicated that if an amnesty were granted by the Turkish government it could convince members of the PKK to lay down their arms, didn't come onto the agenda of talks between Gül and al-Maliki.
"We are here to protect all interests of the two countries," al-Maliki told reporters earlier in the day, upon his arrival at Ankara's Esenboğa Airport. Al-Maliki added that he supported proposals of a joint security committee on the fight against the PKK without elaborating further.
The United States is cooperating with Turkey by providing intelligence about the PKK in Iraq and allowing Turks to use Iraqi airspace for aerial strikes on PKK targets in the northern part of the country. The Iraqi central administration in Baghdad also condemns the PKK attacks but says it has little power in the Kurdish-run north to curb them.
The joint committee al-Maliki referred to was formed in Baghdad last month by senior Iraqi, Turkish and US officials to combat the PKK. The trilateral meeting was also attended by two representatives from the regional Kurdish administration in northern Iraq, including regional Interior Minister Karim Sinjari.
Erdoğan, speaking to reporters yesterday ahead of his meeting with al-Maliki, also referred to the committee's work and said the fight against terrorism would be high on the agenda of his talks with his Iraqi counterpart.
As of Tuesday, when reminded of Talabani's recent remarks, Erdoğan said he would discuss with al-Maliki all measures against the PKK -- including Talabani's proposals to convince the terrorist group to lay down its arms.
"Let's do something to persuade those in the mountains [the PKK members] to lay down their arms and come back to their homes. I can say only one thing: When we call on those in the mountains to lay down their arms and return to their homes, we do not mean that they should come back to Turkish prisons. We say they should return to their homes. What should be done is something which will let them come back home," Talabani said in a recent interview, avoiding the use of the word "amnesty."
Noting that Turkey has a "homecoming law," Erdoğan first referred to the fact that Article 221 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) had been amended to allow for the release of militants tried on anti-terror charges on the condition that they surrender and provide information about the activities of the group that they were members of.
"This issue [the homecoming law] was discussed during Talabani's visit to Turkey [in March], in particular the laying down of arms was discussed. Later we debated the issue during my visit to Baghdad in June," he added then. "We will reassess these issues with al-Maliki again" and discuss the reported plans to convince the PKK to lay down its arms, Erdoğan said.
SÜLEYMAN KURT ANKARA
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Thursday, 25 December 2008
Journal of Turkish Weekly
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