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54 X Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basin Ôzeti o o E S o Turkey demands airstrike deal with Bush as price for holding back troops Plans to attack PKK will depend on US talks Iraqi Kurds help to free captured soldiers Deborah Haynes Irbil Tom Baldwin Washington President Bush will hold crisis talks today in Washington where he will hope to stave off the looming prospect of Turkey's armed forces pursuing Kurdish rebels across its border with Iraq. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, has delayed a final decision on taking military action until he hears what Mr Bush has to say. Although public opinion in Turkey is pressing for the use of ground troops, diplomatic sources in Washing¬ ton say that Mr Erdogan's preferred option if he decides to take action would be for airstrikes on Kurdistan ' Workers' Party (PKK) targets inside northern Iraq. He has made plain that he wants US co-operation as the price for exercis¬ ing restraint, saying that at his meet¬ ing with Mr Bush in Washington: "I am expecting that this trip will result with the United States taking solid steps." The much-anticipated meeting comes as eight Turkish soldiers, . captured by the PKK a fortnight ago, were enjoying their first full day of freedom after being released by their captors. Iraqi Kurdish officials said that the freeing of the troops, seized in an ambush in which a further 12 sol¬ diers were killed, shows their desire to help Turkey in its fight against PKK. The outlawed group, meanwhile, said it signalled its willingness to resolve the stand-off with Ankara peacefully. Baghdad and Washington are keen to avoid any military operations that could destabilise the only prosperous region in Iraq, while the largely auton¬ omous Kurdish regional government has said that any Turkish challenge to ' Iraqi sovereignty would be regarded as an act of war. "I think the meeting is important and a kind of turning point," said Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of foreign relations for the Kurdish north. Any incursion would turn "the only secure part of Iraq into something dif¬ ferent at a time that we are focusing on reconstruction and rébuilding; try¬ ing to focus on education, on health, on improving our economy," he said. "Everyone is waiting to see what happens but we are' trying our best to We want to solve the problem peacefully through dialogue' - PKK Turkish nationalists protest against the PKK during an anti-terror rally in Istanbul, top, while Kurds in Berlin, below, protest against Turkish threats in Iraq communicate to everybody that the best option is the diplomatic and peaceful political option." In a welcome development in the lead-up to the meeting, the hostage release yesterday followed an intense, period of secret talks by Iraqi Kurdish officials, non-governmental organisa¬ tions and other go-betweens. Handed over at dawn, the eight soldiers were received by Jraqi offi¬ cials, who delivered them to US mili¬ tary personnel for transfer to Turkish authorities. Fatma Kurtulan, one of three Turk¬ ish Kurd lawmakers who travelled to northern Iraq to help to negotiate the release, said that the men were extremely grateful to be free from the mountainous terrain where they had been held since the ambush on October 21 inside Turkish territory. Within hours of being freed the sol¬ diers were flown out of Iraq, eagerly phoning relatives once they touched down on Turkish soil. "I am really happy, of course, I don't know what to say," said Fehmi Salman, after talking with soldier son Fuat Basoda. "I'm happy that my son is free." Fouad Hussain, head of the office of Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region, said that Iraqi Kurd¬ ish leaders helped in releasing the sol¬ diers. "This issue proved one thing, that the Iraqi Kurds and Iraqi leader¬ ship are part of the solution. And they want to have a good relationship with Turkish people," Mr Hussain said. The PKK was also keen to make the most of the moment, noting that the "prisoners of war" had been well treat¬ ed and released without conditions. "This is the proof that we do not want war, we want to solve the problem
t-H Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basin Ôzeti peacefully through dialogue," said Abdùl Rahman Chaderchi, a spokes¬ man, "We hope that the meeting between Mr Erdogan and Mr Bush will take into consideration our ac¬ tions, what we did, releasing the hos¬ tages. They must answer our needs and demands," he told The Times. The outlawed group is fighting to secure better rights for Kurds living in Turkey. It also wants its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to be freed from a Turkish prison where he is serving a life sentence. "We hope that the release of the hos¬ tages will be the beginning of the peaceful way to solvethese problems," Mr Chaderchi said. Iraqi Kurdish officials have voiced concern that Ankara is using the PKK as an excuse to threaten the growing prosperity and independence that Kurds are enjoying in northern Iraq. The United States applauded the efforts of the Iraqi Government to secure the release of the soldiers. Sean McCormack, US State Department spokesman also urged "continued, deepened, and immediate cooperation between Iraq and Turkey in combat¬ ting the PKK". Battle for identity 1984 PKK launches armed struggle against Turkey with the aim of creating an independent Kurdistan 1990 Drops calls for independence and demands more autonomy for the Kurds 1999 Abdullah Ocalan, PKK leader, arrested and ceasefire begins as Bush hopes to calm Turkey with more aid U.S. offers an assist against Kurd rebels By Brian Knowlton WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush offered the Turkish prime minis¬ ter additional help on Monday in con¬ taining Iraq-based Kurdish militants, part of a last-ditch U.S. attempt to deter a threatened attack by Turkish troops massed at the border. "I made it very clear to the prime minister that we want to work in a close way to deal with this problem," Bush said after his Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The president offered additional in¬ telligence-sharing to help Turkey com¬ bat the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK a proposal advanced late last week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in urgent meetings in Istanbul and Ankara. Bush also promised closer co¬ ordination between the countries' mil¬ itaries in tracking the militants. Erdogan had effectively set Monday as a deadline for deciding whether to send into action some of the tens of thousands of Turkish troops now in the rugged border area. He reminded reporters Monday that the Turkish Parliament had voted over¬ whelmingly on Oct. 17 to authorize a cross-border incursion, "if necessary." The Turkish public also strongly sup¬ ports military action; the PKK has killed at least 40 Turks in attacks in the past month. Bush faced a difficult balancing act.. The administration hoped to offer Er¬ dogan sufficiently tough-sounding re¬ assurances to help him face down those in Turkey demanding military action, while doing everything possible to pre¬ vent such an incursion, which could dangerously upset one of the few rela¬ tively peaceful parts of Iraq. The president did not mince words Monday in condemning the PKK guer¬ rillas, saying: "They're an enemy of Turkey, they're an enemy of Iraq, and they're an enemy of the United States." In promising to provide better intelli¬ gence, he said it was needed "to chase down people who murder people." But analysts said they were unsure whether the U.S. message would be enough. "The Bush administration Would like to just kick this can down the road," said Bulent Aliriza, Turkey Project director at the Center for Strategic and Interna¬ tional Studies. "The problem is, the can has been kicked down the road to the point where now it can't be kicked any¬ more." Aliriza said he feared that Erdogan, returning to face an angry public, would "have a tough time saying we don't have to do an intervention." A furious round of recent diplomacy, including Rice's meetings with Turkish and Iraqi officials, has failed to ease Turkish concerns. Nor did Iraqi assurances of heightened cooperation. "We are at the point where words have been exhausted and where there is need for action," Foreign Minister Ali Babacan of Turkey said Friday. The United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist group, but the sensitivities of the border area have left the Bush administration in a perplexed position. On Saturday, Kurdish authorities in Iraq closed offices in two cities of a political party allegedly linked to the group again waters down its demands 2004 Rebels end their five-year ceasefire with Turkish Government, taking up a struggle that has killed about 37,000 people "May 2007 Turkey angered by US decision to hand over security control to three Iraqi Kurdish northern provinces Sept 29 13 Turks killed in ambush in southeastern Sirnak province Oct 7 PKK kills 13 Turkish soldiers Oct 21 Eight soldiers captured and 12 killed by PKK. Turkey claims 32 rebels killed In cross-border clashes Oct 24 PKK positions bombed by Turkish jets, according to Turkish news agency Oct 28 Turkish troops kill 15 suspected Kurdish rebels Sources: news agencies guerrillas and set up checkpoints to ar¬ rest suspected militants. But Turkish officials said such moves in the past were short-lived. They have demanded the handing over of named PKK militants and the closing of their bases. Erdogan said he had discussed these matters with Bush "the dissolving of the terrorist camps, the capture of lead¬ ers of the terrorist organization" but neither man indicated whether any commitments had been made. Bush declined to answer how he would react should the Turks launch a major attack but said both sides agreed that some action was necessary. Alizriza considers a mass crossing of the border by tens ofthousands ofTurk¬ ish troops to be "extremely unlikely." More likely, he said, are pinpoint airstrikes or limited commando attacks. The administration worries that a cross-border incursion might set a pre¬ cedent for other countries most wor- ryingly Iran that have conflicts with Kurdish rebels. Kurdish guerrillas on Sunday re¬ leased eight Turkish soldiers captured . two weeks earlier in a bloody ambush. The rebels' top commander, Murat Karayilan, described the move as an ef¬ fort to soften relations with Turkish of¬ ficials, but it seemed unlikely to as¬ suage the deep anger of Turkish officials. The release puts "some cards in the hands of President Bush," said Cengiz Candar, a political analyst and colum¬ nist for the Turkish newspaper Refer- Rkhard A. Oppel Jr. contributed re¬ porting from Duhok, Iraq; Sabrina Tav- ernise from Istanbul; and an Iraqi em¬ ployee ofThe New York Timesfrom Iraqi Kurdistan. 55
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