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

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Baszn (jzeti
Ankara confirme une nouvelle incursion turque .-=.
dans le nord de l'Irak
AAJ..=
ANKARA, 7 jan (AFP) - 12h20- Le Premier ministre turc Bulent Ecevit a confirmé dimanche une nouvelle incursion de l'armée turque
dans le nord de l'Irak, précisant qu'elle était destinée à aider les partis kurdes dans cette zone à combattre le Parti des Travailleurs
du Kurdistan (PKK).
M. Ecevit a ajouté, dans une interview à la chaîne publique TRT, que les soldats turcs fournissaient une "assistance technique" aux
membres de l'Union Patriotique du Kurdistan (UPK) et du Parti Démocratique du Kurdistan (PDK) dans leurs combats contre les
rebelles du PKK, dont le chef Abdullah Ocalan est emprisonné et condamné à mort en Turquie.
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Ces deux partis rivaux contrôlent
Turquie.
cette zone, l'UPK ayant ses bases dans l'est, près de l'Iran, et le PDK dans le secteur proche de la
Les rebelles du PKK utilisent le nord de l'Irak comme base-arrière de leurs opérations depuis la fin de la guerre du Golfe en 1991.
"Les deux partis intensifient leur lutte contre le PKK et nous essayons de les aider", a ajouté le Premier ministre en soulignant que le
"véritable enjeu" oppose l'UPK que dirige Jalal Talabani au PKK dans l'est de la zone.
En juillet, M. Ecevit a rencontré M. Talabani et l'avait remercié pour sa lutte contre le PKK. Ankara accusait auparavant l'UPK
d'aider les séparatistes turcs.
Depuis l'arrestation en février 1999 de M. Ocalan, condamné à mort pour trahison, le PKK prône une solution pacifique du problème
kurde et a proclamé l'abandon de la lutte armée lancée en 1984.
L'Irak a dénoncé le 2 janvier la nouvelle incursion turque et exhorté la Ugue arabe à intervenir
des troupes turques.
pour obtenir le "retrait immédiat"
Turkish PM reports fresh Turkish incursion into northern Iraq
ANKARA, Jan 7 (AFP) Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit confirmed Sunday that Turkish soldiers had crossed
into northern Iraq to aid the two leading Kurdish factions in the area in their struggle against armed Kurdish
rebels from Turkey.
Ecevit told the state-run IRT channel in a live interview that Turkish soldiers were providing "technical help" to
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to fight the Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK).
"The real struggle in the region is between the PUK and the PKK," Ecevit
said.
"The PUK and the KDP are spearheading the combat against the PKK and we are trying to help them," he added.
For the past few months, the Jalal Talabani-Ied PUK, which controls a section of northern Iraq close to the border
with Iran, has been fighting PKK rebels which it accuses of attacking its positions in a deliberate attempt to destabilize
the Kurdish-held enclave. The fighting comes after a long period of good relations between the PUK and the
PKK, which has waged a IS-year armed campaign against Turkey for Kurdish self-rule in the country's southeast.
The PKK has been trying to find itself a safe haven since September 1999 when the group said it would stop fighting
Ankara and withdraw from Turkish territory to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Most of the rebels are believed to have crossed into northern Iraq, which has been outside Baghdad's control since
the 1991 Gulf War. The KDP, led by Massoud Barzani, controls the strip of land near the Turkish border and often
helps Turkey in its frequent cross-border operations in the region.
Ecevit did not say how many troops were taking part in the incurSion or when it would end, but underlined that
the clashes in northern Iraq was evidence that the "terrorist PKK was still in existence".
"The terrorists are armed and are just beyond our border. In other words, they are lying in ambush," Ecevit told
IRT. "We are taking the necessary measures, both in Turkey and abroad, against separatist terrorism in the framework
of internationallegal rules," he added.
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