Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
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54<br />
X<br />
Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basin Ôzeti<br />
o<br />
o<br />
E<br />
S<br />
o<br />
Turkey <strong>de</strong>m<strong>and</strong>s airstrike <strong>de</strong>al with<br />
Bush as price for holding back troops<br />
Plans to attack PKK<br />
will <strong>de</strong>pend on US talks<br />
Iraqi Kurds help to<br />
free captured soldiers<br />
Deborah Haynes Irbil<br />
Tom Baldwin Washington<br />
Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Bush will hold crisis talks<br />
today in Washington where he will<br />
hope to stave off the looming prospect<br />
of Turkey's armed forces pursuing<br />
Kurdish rebels across its bor<strong>de</strong>r with<br />
Iraq.<br />
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish<br />
Prime Minister, has <strong>de</strong>layed a final<br />
<strong>de</strong>cision on taking military action<br />
until he hears what Mr Bush has to<br />
say.<br />
Although public opinion in Turkey<br />
is pressing for the use of ground<br />
troops, diplomatic sources in Washing¬<br />
ton say that Mr Erdogan's preferred<br />
option if he <strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong>s to take action<br />
would be for airstrikes on<br />
Kurdistan ' Workers' Party (PKK)<br />
targets insi<strong>de</strong> northern Iraq.<br />
He has ma<strong>de</strong> plain that he wants US<br />
co-operation as the price for exercis¬<br />
ing restraint, saying that at his meet¬<br />
ing with Mr Bush in Washington: "I<br />
am expecting that this trip will result<br />
with the United States taking solid<br />
steps."<br />
The much-anticipated meeting<br />
comes as eight Turkish soldiers,<br />
. captured by the PKK a fortnight ago,<br />
were enjoying their first full day of<br />
freedom after being released by their<br />
captors. Iraqi Kurdish officials said<br />
that the freeing of the troops, seized in<br />
an ambush in which a further 12 sol¬<br />
diers were killed, shows their <strong>de</strong>sire to<br />
help Turkey in its fight against PKK.<br />
The outlawed group, meanwhile, said<br />
it signalled its willingness to resolve<br />
the st<strong>and</strong>-off with Ankara peacefully.<br />
Baghdad <strong>and</strong> Washington are keen<br />
to avoid any military operations that<br />
could <strong>de</strong>stabilise the only prosperous<br />
region in Iraq, while the largely auton¬<br />
omous Kurdish regional government<br />
has said that any Turkish challenge to '<br />
Iraqi sovereignty would be regar<strong>de</strong>d<br />
as an act of war.<br />
"I think the meeting is important<br />
<strong>and</strong> a kind of turning point," said<br />
Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of foreign<br />
relations for the Kurdish north.<br />
Any incursion would turn "the only<br />
secure part of Iraq into something dif¬<br />
ferent at a time that we are focusing<br />
on reconstruction <strong>and</strong> rébuilding; try¬<br />
ing to focus on education, on health,<br />
on improving our economy," he said.<br />
"Everyone is waiting to see what<br />
happens but we are' trying our best to<br />
We want to solve the<br />
problem peacefully<br />
through dialogue' - PKK<br />
Turkish nationalists protest against the PKK during an anti-terror rally<br />
in Istanbul, top, while Kurds in Berlin, below, protest against Turkish threats in Iraq<br />
communicate to everybody that the<br />
best option is the diplomatic <strong>and</strong><br />
peaceful political option."<br />
In a welcome <strong>de</strong>velopment in the<br />
lead-up to the meeting, the hostage<br />
release yesterday followed an intense,<br />
period of secret talks by Iraqi Kurdish<br />
officials, non-governmental organisa¬<br />
tions <strong>and</strong> other go-betweens.<br />
H<strong>and</strong>ed over at dawn, the eight<br />
soldiers were received by Jraqi offi¬<br />
cials, who <strong>de</strong>livered them to US mili¬<br />
tary personnel for transfer to Turkish<br />
authorities.<br />
Fatma Kurtulan, one of three Turk¬<br />
ish Kurd lawmakers who travelled to<br />
northern Iraq to help to negotiate the<br />
release, said that the men were<br />
extremely grateful to be free from the<br />
mountainous terrain where they had<br />
been held since the ambush on<br />
October 21 insi<strong>de</strong> Turkish territory.<br />
Within hours of being freed the sol¬<br />
diers were flown out of Iraq, eagerly<br />
phoning relatives once they touched<br />
down on Turkish soil. "I am really<br />
happy, of course, I don't know what to<br />
say," said Fehmi Salman, after talking<br />
with soldier son Fuat Basoda. "I'm<br />
happy that my son is free."<br />
Fouad Hussain, head of the office of<br />
Masoud Barzani, presi<strong>de</strong>nt of the<br />
Kurdish region, said that Iraqi Kurd¬<br />
ish lea<strong>de</strong>rs helped in releasing the sol¬<br />
diers. "This issue proved one thing,<br />
that the Iraqi Kurds <strong>and</strong> Iraqi lea<strong>de</strong>r¬<br />
ship are part of the solution. And they<br />
want to have a good relationship with<br />
Turkish people," Mr Hussain said.<br />
The PKK was also keen to make the<br />
most of the moment, noting that the<br />
"prisoners of war" had been well treat¬<br />
ed <strong>and</strong> released without conditions.<br />
"This is the proof that we do not want<br />
war, we want to solve the problem