Friday, 26 December 2008
Iraq's central government sees eye to eye with Turkey regarding measures to be taken against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which attacks Turkey from its bases in northern Iraq, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday.
"We don't have the slightest problem with the Iraqi central government regarding the joint fight against the PKK," Erdoğan told reporters. He was speaking a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited Ankara for talks on bilateral ties and measures against the PKK. Erdoğan said after meeting with al-Maliki that Turkey and Iraq will wage a joint struggle against the PKK, which operates along their shared mountainous border.
Erdoğan said talks with al-Maliki showed that there was a consensus on measures to be taken against the terrorist group, without elaborating. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, also the leader of one of the two main Kurdish factions in Iraq, has recently called for an amnesty for the PKK members as a way to peacefully bring them down from the mountains, saying they should be free to go home if they return to Turkey, instead of ending up in jail. He also said the PKK was not wanted in Iraq and urged the terrorist group to end attacks on Turkey.
Arab newspaper Al Hayat, published in London, said in a report yesterday that al-Maliki had presented a plan to Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül, who he also met with during his visit, on elimination of the PKK. According to the plan, the Iraqi side is responsible for ensuring that the PKK lays down arms or leaves Iraq.
Turkey, for its part, will allow the PKK members to return home and make sure they will not be prosecuted for their actions as members of the terrorist group. A group of 152 senior PKK members whom Turkey wants Iraq to extradite will either stay in northern Iraq or will be allowed to go to a European country.
Talabani's remarks, followed by al-Maliki's visit, have sparked a debate at home over whether the government is planning an amnesty for the PKK. Deniz Baykal, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), yesterday suggested in a speech that the Iraqi side was conveying the PKK's demands and argued that the government has not proposed any measure that would lead to elimination of the PKK.
Asked whether he had discussed any particular strategy with al-Maliki concerning disarmament of the PKK, Erdoğan appeared elusive. "The Iraqi government is not involved in the laying down of arms. Mr. Maliki has stated clearly that he is of the same opinion as us," he said.
Ankara has bitterly criticized the Iraqi Kurds who run northern Iraq for tolerating and even supporting the PKK, but tensions have eased recently following public contacts with Kurdish officials and statements from Kurdish leaders that they were against the PKK attacks on Turkey from their territory. The Iraqi Kurds are expected to issue a joint declaration shortly calling on the PKK to lay down arms or leave Iraq.
News reports said the change of stance has made the Kurdish administration a target of the PKK, which accuses the Kurds of "betraying the Kurdish cause" by cooperating with Turkey. About 3,500 PKK terrorists are believed to be based in mountain camps in northern Iraq. On Wednesday, three soldiers were killed in an attack by the PKK in a town near the Iraqi border. The attack in Cizre injured 17 soldiers as well.
Turkey has been conducting cross-border operations on the PKK targets in northern Iraq for over a year after the United States agreed to cooperate more effectively with Ankara by allowing Turkish warplanes to use Iraqi airspace and providing actionable intelligence about the PKK movements in northern Iraq. The Iraqi government is to take over control of the country's air space from the US as of Jan. 1 under a security arrangement with Washington.
It is not clear whether the Iraqi government is ready to allow Turkey to continue its cross-border aerial strikes in northern Iraq after taking over the control of Iraqi airspace. Erdoğan said al-Maliki saw the Turkish operations against the PKK as a "natural right" for Ankara.
Strategic ties
Erdoğan said he and al-Maliki also discussed ways to improve strategic cooperation between the two neighboring countries, noting that Turkish and Iraqi ministers had discussed ways to cooperate in areas of education, health, infrastructure, construction and investments during al-Maliki's visit.
Turkey is already an active economic player in Iraq. Despite political tensions, Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region has relied heavily on Turkish food imports as well as Turkish investment in construction and Turkish electricity. On Wednesday, Erdoğan said the two prime ministers would meet once a year, while their foreign ministers would meet three times a year to review progress in bilateral cooperation.
A strategic partnership agreement signed by the two countries earlier this year commits Turkey and Iraq to cooperation in the political, economic, energy, water, cultural, security and military fields. Erdoğan said Energy Minister Hilmi Güler will soon visit Iraq for talks on energy cooperation involving transfer of Iraqi natural gas to Europe via Turkey. Turkey and Iraq are committed to upgrading and expanding the existing capacity of the Kirkuk-Yumurtalık oil pipeline and building a pipeline network to transport natural gas from Iraq to international markets via Turkey.
