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

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Bastn (jzeti
Reuters 10 Jan 2001
Interview-Iraqi
Kurd Leader Says U.S. Tough Talk Not Helpful
ANKARA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The leader of one of the two Kurdish factions that control northern Iraq said on
Wednesday tough talk was not the best way for the United States to push Iraq towards ~emocracy.
JalaI Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), told Reuters in an interview that it was too early
to judge the incoming U.S. administration of George W. Bush, but the signs were that it would take a tough stance
towards Iraq.
"I cannot say I welcome this tough language," Talabani said during a visit to Ankara. 'We need to have in Iraq
democratic change, some steps forward to democratisation, not tough speeches," he said.
Talabani heads one half of a Kurdish enclave in the mountainous region that the United States wants to forge into
a united bulwark against the Iraqi government, which has not controlled the north since the end of the 1991 Gulf
War.
U.S. Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell, who oversaw the U.S. military during the 1991 Gulf War against
Iraq, has said he will work with allies to breath new life into sanctions against Baghdad. Other Bush advisers openly
advocate using air power and arming the Iraqi opposition.
TALABANI SEEKS NEW CHAPTER IN RELATIONS wrm KOP
Turning to the situation in northern Iraq, Talabani said he was trying to improve relations with rival Kurdish leader
Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KOP).
The PΠand the KOP have controlled the breakaway enclave in the north of the country since the Gulf War, but
thousands of their members were killed in intermittent clashes since 1994.
The United States brokered a ceasefire in 1998.
So far, differences over power sharing and revenues in the region have blocked progress towards
the local government envisaged under the Washington accord.
the elections and
Talabani said he would meet Barzani on his return from Ankara, where he sought economic support
and the two would hold detailed discussions about future relations.
from Turkey,
"I hope we can both open a new chapter for our relations," he said. ''I'm going to ask for better relations and we
will discuss the possibility of reinforcing the administration and also for new elections."
The deal signed in Washington also stipulates that Turkish Kurd guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
be denied the opportunity to base themselves in northern Iraq - a key issue for Ankara. Talabani said the PKK
were clearly getting support from outside Iraq, though he declined to say from whom. Western diplomats who met
him in Ankara said he had discussed Turkey's concerns that Iran may be supporting the PI