Turkish, Iranian Presidents Condemn Kurds
AFP reports that Prime Minister Rejep Tayyib Erdogan of Turkey said Saturday, of the Kurdish Workers Party guerrillas holed up in Iraq, "We will launch an operation when it will be necessary, without asking for anybody’s opinion . . .”
The USG Open Source Center translates an article about Turkish President Abdullah Gul calling Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Turkey's plans to end the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) presence in the region. Iran's president expressed sympathy for the terrorism Turkey suffered at Kurdish hands and stressed that Iran had faced similar terrorism. (The implication is that the United States was 'running' Kurdish terrorists and the Mojahedin-e Khalq against Iraq's neighbors).
George W. Bush's special greatness is that his coddling of Kurdish separatism and terrorism has brought together the Sunni Turks and the Shiite Iranians, traditional enemies. Yes, these are the birth pangs of the New Middle East.
'Turkey's Gul Tells Ahmedinejad 'Channels of Diplomacy' on PKK 'Being Exhausted'
"President Gul Held a Phone Conversation With Ahmedinejad" -- AA headline
Anatolia
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Ankara (AA) - 27.10.2007 - It was reported that Iranian President Ahmedinejad called President Gul on the phone and received information on the latest developments on Turkey's fight against terrorism. According to reports, Gul told Ahmedinejad that Turkey attaches great importance to Iraq's territorial integrity and that all the Iraqi people with the Shi'a, Sunni, Arab, and Kurd are the kin of Turks. Gul also stressed that Turkey does not target the Iraq administration and the Kurds.
It was also reported that President Gul emphasized Turkey's determination in ending the PKK presence in the region after pointing out that the terrorist organization is using northern Iraq as a base and that the channels of diplomacy are being exhausted.
Ahmedinejad, in turn, was reported to have said during the conversation that Turkey's concerns are received with understanding, that Iran is also fighting terror, and that Iran is closely watching the developments with concern. Ahmedinejad also extended his condolences to the families of the martyrs.
(Description of Source: Ankara Anatolia in Turkish -- Semi-official news agency; independent in content) '
posted by Juan Cole @ 10/28/2007 01:15:00 AM
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3 Comments:
It seems that American duplicity towards Kurdish nationalism is coming back to haunt us... Democracy Now ran a segment back in March with Reese Erlich from Mother Jones discussing U.S. support for Kurdish guerillas in Iran: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/27/1356250
Once upon a time, blowback took years to materialize; now, it happens in realtime. This is perhaps the most potent aspect of US Imperial decline, but also the most dangerous.
George Bush is responsible for a lot of evil in this world... but I’m not sure Turkish-Iranian collaboration against the Kurds can be ascribed to him. The Iranians and the Turks have been working together to deny self-determination to the Kurds for nearly a century. There's even a book about it, by historian Robert Olson: "The Kurdish Question and Turkish-Iranian Relations: From World War I to 1998".
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