Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

"
.'
Sami Abdurrahman,
the KOP delegation chief.
IDN Ali Fuall1ay
KDP: With 20,000 men
we can keep border safe
Terms: Villages have to be rebuilt as
logistic bases. We do not ask for recognition
of the regional 'government, but we will
settle for nothing less than federation
BYRa~it Gürdilek / Turkish Daily Ne'I'.'s
ANKARA- The thief of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)
negotiators, who conferred with Turkish Foreign Ministry officials
here last week, said :l "serious force" of up to 20,000 Kurdish fighters
was needed to prevent the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) separatists
returning to the border after Turkey's just-concluded cross-border
operation. .
In an exclusive interview with the Turkish Daily News, Sami
Ankara drafts
working plan
for Europe
Cooperation and Confronta~ori:
Turkey will cooperate with European
countries and institutions, but will
confront its allies if its vital interests
such as territorial integrity and
security are threatened.
Obligations of Turkey and Europe:
Turkey must do what it can to
democratize further, but Europe
should also be careful to carry out
its obligation to fight terrorism.
By Nazlan Ertan
Turkish Dai/v News
ANKARA- After a two-day brain-storming
session which ended Saturday, key Turkish
diplomats have built a working plan which
includes a "confrontation and cooperation"
strategy toward its European allies.
The "consultations" meeting of the Foreign
Minjs~ry took place against a background of
deCISIOns by the Council of Europe and
European Parliament which were unfavorahle
to Turkey, the establishment of a Kurdish
"parliament-in-exile" and efforts of ER...~ the
political wing of Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK), to extend its influence in various
European countries; Ankara is worried that the
European Parliament will not ratify the customs
union, which is Turkey's main foreign
policyobjective.
"Turkey is at its most crucial lime ever in
terms of its relations with Europe," a senior
diplomatic source told the Turkish Daily
News, adding that Ankara's aim was to obtain
Abdurrahman, a close aide of the
KDP leader Massoud Barzani, also
said that the rebuilding of the 350
villages on the Turkish border was a
prerequisite
artangernent.'
for the border security
.
He said the KDP border force,
with Turkey's financial assistance,
would be capable militarily of keeping
the separatists away from tlie
border "because we don't want anybody
to harm our fragile entity In
northern Iraq."
Although Turkey was hoping to
draw the Patriotic Umon of
Kurdistan (PUK), the KDP's chief
rival and antagonist, into the security
arrangement, Abdurrahman left no
doubt that despite the current truce
between the warring sides, temperatures
were still too high to allow a
working cooperation.
He accused the PUK leader of
mocking the world, by calling for
recognitIOn of the Kurdish regIonal
government after destroying it himself
by occupying Erbil, the seat for
that government. Abdurrahman also
said that suagestions for the normalization
of re1ations between Baghdad
and the Kurds had also been taken up
in the talks with Turkish officials lea
by Ambassador Gün Gür, who
recently held talks in Baghdad with
Iraqi officials, but he saId they did
not think it was the riaht time for the
implementation of UN. Resolution
688 - calling Baghdad to address
the grievances of all of its citizens
(including the Iraqi Kurds).
The KDP official said the Iraqi
Kurds. if they ever sit down with
Ba&hdad for negotiations, will not
setue for anything less than a federation
and said "no one should feel nervous
about that."
the ratification of the customs union without
delay.
"But It is clear that there are misunderstandings
among our Western allies reaardin*
human rights and our fight against terr~rism. '
U¥!e ~i1l cooperate with our European allies in
bnngmg our system up to their standard, provide
transparency about what they
want to learn, but we will confront
them when we feel our vital interests
s~ch as our t.erri~orial integrity, secu~
Tlty and umtanan state are being
threa~ened," a diplomat said. The
workmg plan, drafted during an
around-tlie-c1ock meeting on
Saturday and as yet unfimshed,
envisages a number of short, medium
and long-tenn measures that will be
submitted to the president
government.
and the
For example, high-level diplomacy
and fetter-writing, combined with
inviting key Euro-MPs to Turkey and
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