PKK Kurdish Rebels: We Won't Stop Fighting In Iraq

BAGHDAD — Kurdish rebels on Tuesday rejected calls by Iraq's president to stop fighting against Turkey and leave Iraqi territory as the visiting Turkish president stepped up pressure on the Baghdad government to act against the group.

President Jalal Talabani made the call Monday during a press conference with visiting Turkish President Abdullah Gul. Talabani, who is a Kurd, said it was in Iraq's interest to remove fighters of the Kurdistan Workers' Part, or PKK, from Iraqi soil.

Talabani also called on the rebels to lay down their arms, but he has made similar calls in the past that have been ignored and the government announced no imminent plans to take action against the rebel group.

The central government has frequently denounced the PKK as terrorists, but it is limited in its ability to act against the rebels, who are based in semiautonomous Kurdish territory in northern Iraq. Baghdad also have been preoccupied with fighting violence elsewhere in Iraq.

"Jalal Talabani doesn't have the authority or the will to utter such words, and we don't take orders from him," PKK spokesman Ahmed Deniz said.

"We are publicly warning Talabani that such statements will lead to grave consequences and much of the achievements of (Iraq's) Kurds will be lost," Deniz told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He did not elaborate.

PKK rebels, who stage cross-border raids into Turkish territory from sanctuaries in northern Iraq, have been fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.

Gul, who arrived Monday on the first trip to Iraq by a Turkish head of state in 33 years, met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday, according to a government statement. A day earlier, he urged Iraqis to crack down on Kurdish rebels.

"The time has come to remove the element that is a source of trouble," Gul said during Monday's press conference. "We need to engage in a joint struggle to completely eradicate terrorism."

Turkey has carried out several cross border airstrikes against rebel targets and is pressing Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government to step up efforts against the Kurdish rebels from their side.

Tensions escalated last year after the rebels killed about two dozen Turkish soldiers in attacks in October.

The areas where the PKK operates are under control of the Iraqi Kurdish regional administration rather than the Arab-dominated central government in Baghdad.

Iraqi police, meanwhile, raised the death toll to 27 in a suicide bombing Monday against a Kurdish funeral in Jalula, a northern town where Kurds and Arabs are competing for power.

U.S. officials believe Kurdish-Arab tension is among the major flashpoint issues threatening Iraqi stability now that the danger posed by Sunni and Shiite insurgents has been diminished.

Comments

[motown67]

This could be all bluster on the part of the PKK. The Turks have given more autonomy to their own Kurds. They've started a Kurdish language TV station. They are about to announce an amnesty program for the PKK and allow their leaders to go to other parts of Europe if they want. The U.S., Baghdad, Kurdistan and Ankara have all been working on this. The PKK simply can't exist without the support of the Kurdistan Regional Government. Iraqi Pres. Talabani, who is a Kurd, said that it's time for the PKK to lay down their arms. Even the PKK leader who is jailed in Turkey said he's open to the government's moves. Next month or May there's supposed to be an international conference of Kurds. That's probably when the PKK will make their decision on how to respond to the Turks. musingsoni­raq.blogsp­ot.com

[PlayTOE]

Kurds are quite clear ... they want a measure of self autonomy. Nothing else will do.

But ... would they be willing and able to become co-operative semi-autonomous partners?

[fbr79]

No International Solidarity Movement for Kurdistan?

[hortonhearsawho2]

they won't stop fighting, period.

[Nicolaus]

The Kurdish leaders have different agenda and are not even sure they want autonomy or independence. The latter is simply out of the question, even with US and Israeli help, and the former is unsatisfactory for several factions because their experience with Iraqi Kurdistan means not getting a share of the loot - taken out from the mouths of the Iraqi Kurds!