Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris

• 2 • Information and liaison bulletin n° 272 • November 2007
Condoleezza Rice, had promised
to redouble her country’s efforts to
help Turkey to overcome the PKK
problem, while urging the Turkish
Army not to enter Iraq. She
stressed that the United States was
under an “obligation” to contribute
to the struggle against the PKK
and reaffirmed that the organisation,
considered to be terrorist by
the United States, was as much
“the enemy” of Washington and
Baghdad as of Turkey. “This will
require perseverance. It is a very difficult
problem (…) eradicating terrorism
is tough”, she added, nevertheless.
At the ends of his discussions with
Mr. Erdogan at the White House,
Mr. Bush announced a strengthening
of military cooperation
between the two countries and a
new partnership between the United
States, Turkey and Iraq to
improve the sharing of Intelligence.
“Errors of intelligence mean
that we cannot resolve the problem.
Good intelligence, accurate and delivered
in real time using modern technology,
would enable” the struggle
“to be made much easier”, stressed
Mr. Bush. The US President also
indicated that the US was ready “to
go further” on the issue of the
struggle against the PKK, particularly
on “questions of airport transit”
and “questions of money”.
Shortly before the meeting
between Messrs. Bush and Erdogan,
some 300 to 400 Kurds
demonstrated in front of the White
House, the men in traditional
dress, the women and children carrying
flags of Kurdistan called
“Stop the Turkish invasion!”. “We
want to sent President Bush a clear
message that he must not give the
green light to a Turkish invasion of
Iraqi Kurdistan”, pointed out Isa
Shalky, spokesman of the Tennessee
Kurdish Community Council,
who had come from Nashville.
Other Kurds came from Pennsylvania,
Michigan and New York
respectively.
The Turkish Prime Minister left
Washington relieved and said that
he was happy after his discussions
with Mr. Bush at the White House.
“Praise God, we have secured what we
wanted”, stated Mr. Erdogan. “No
one told us not to carry out (military)
operations”, he stated to journalists
at his hotel, seeming to see an
implicit support for targeted
strikes in the PKK hideouts in Mr.
Bush’s remarks. “We have decided to
carry out some operations (…) We
will use this authorisation, the armed
forces will decide their form”, he
stressed. The Turkish press of 6
November saw in these remarks
the sign of coming Turkish attacks
on the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan. “A
green light for an operation”, headlined
the daily Radikal. “It seems
that here will be no going back
regarding the decision to proceed
with military operations”, commented
Rusen Cakir, a journalist
on the daily paper Vatan. “Ankara
should, in a few days time, carry out
concrete measures part of which will
be supported by Washington and others
carried out without its knowledge
or even against its wishes”, Ms Cakir
considered.
Still with the idea of discussing the
situation on the Iraqi Kurdistan
borders, Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Rome
on 6 November to meek the Head
of State, Giorgio Napolitano, and
then the Prime Minister, Romano
Prodi. On 5 November Mr. Erdogan
had stated in press interviews
that “if the Iraqi Government takes
urgent and permanent measures
against the PKK on Iraqi territory, the
Turkish government might not use
this authorisation”. Pope Benedict
XVI had, on 4 November,
expressed his “anxiety” over the
tension on the Kurdish borders,
calling for a “peaceful solution” to
the problems between Turkey and
Iraqi Kurdistan. Mr. Erdogan
returned to Turkey on 8 November
at the end of his visit to Italy