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 The_Red_Crayon
Exposer of Truth
Registered: 08/13/03
Posts: 13,106
Loc: Smokey Mtns. TN 
Last seen: 2 months, 13 days
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 Turkey: We demand explanation for US arms in Kurdish Rebels hands. 
#7175329 - 07/14/07 04:59 PM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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WASHINGTON - Turkey's ambassador to Washington said Wednesday that U.S. weapons have been turning up in the hands of Kurdish guerrillas staging attacks in Turkey.
Nabi Sensoy said that the United States is not doing enough to influence Kurdish politicians in key positions in the Iraqi government to crack down on the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, which has been fighting for an independent Kurdistan within Turkey for decades. He said that Turkey has been pressing the United States to ensure that U.S. weapons supplied to Kurdish forces within the Iraqi army are not funneled to the PKK.
He did not suggest that the U.S. has been supplying the PKK directly. But he accused Kurdish members of the Iraqi government of allowing the group to operate in northern Iraq and to stage cross border attacks into Turkey.
The comments come as the Turkish officials have indicated that they are considering military operations against the PKK in Iraq, a move that the United States fears would cause further instability. While tensions between Ankara and Washington have increased, Turkey remains a key U.S. ally, providing vital support to U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq through Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, one of the most important U.S. military assets in the region.
U.S. officials have said they are working closely with Turkey to combat the PKK but that their focus in Iraq is in combating insurgents opposing U.S. forces. The United States considers the PKK a terrorist group and has taken steps to cut off its international financing. But U.S. officials have had few examples of success against the PKK in Iraq to point to in answering Turkish concerns.
The perception in Turkey that the United States has ignored Turkish concerns about the PKK's operations in Iraq has increased pressure on the Turkish government to order military operations against the PKK in Iraq. The PKK has escalated attacks this year, killing at least 67 soldiers so far. More than 110 rebels were killed in the same period.
"I think the Turkish people have shown enough patience," Sensoy told reporters at a press breakfast. "We have to show the public some concrete results."
Turkey's military chief, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, recently asked his government to set political guidelines for an incursion into northern Iraq. The Turkish military has said that an incursion may be necessary because the U.S. and the Iraqi governments have failed to stop attacks across the border.
The issue is highly sensitive in Turkey, which has been battling the PKK since 1984 in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. Tension over whether the Turkish military will take action in Iraq has intensified as the country approaches an election later this month.
During the 1990s, Turkish troops penetrated Iraqi territory several times, sometimes with as many as 50,000 troops. The Turkish forces withdrew, leaving behind about 2,000 soldiers to monitor rebel activities.
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 YidakiMan
Stranger
Registered: 09/29/02
Posts: 2,023
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Re: Turkey: We demand explanation for US arms in Kurdish Rebels hands. [Re: The_Red_Crayon]
#7182493 - 07/16/07 10:34 AM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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If only Turkey could help build a Kurdish secular state in the region; advised, overseen and supplied by the U.S. Armed Forces...
If there were only a place in the region that deposed a dictator recently....
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