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Turks pressing US to combat Turkish Kurdish rebels in Niraq
Diyarbakir (Turkey), Aug 30: Turkish police are handing out leaflets in the country`s overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast, calling on rebel gunmen to come down from their mountain hideouts in Turkey and northern Iraq and surrender under a new amnesty law.
Diyarbakir (Turkey), Aug 30: Turkish police are handing out leaflets in the country's overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast, calling on rebel gunmen to come down from their
mountain hideouts in Turkey and northern Iraq and surrender under a new amnesty law.
But rebel leaders have already rejected the amnesty and are threatening to end their four-year, unilateral cease-fire on Monday unless Turkey orders its soldiers to stop attacks against the guerrillas.
The specter of a return to fighting raises the possibility of renewed instability in southeastern Turkey as well as in northern Iraq, where an estimated 5,000 Turkish Kurdish rebels are hiding out in mountain villages and caves. With US soldiers in neighboring Iraq, the future of the rebels has become a key issue in US-Turkish relations, especially since trouble in northern Iraq would unsettle one of the few quiet areas of the American-occupied country.
At issue are rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, who fled or were driven out of the country in a massive military push by the Turkish Army in the late 1990s. They were welcomed in northern Iraq since it was under control of Iraqi Kurds. Today, the area is still run by Iraqi Kurdish groups, and the US Army has only a small presence in the area. Yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the United States to act against the Turkish Kurds in Iraq. "After September 11, Turkey fulfilled its responsibilities in combatting international terrorism ... Now it is time for you to fulfill your responsibility," he told private CNN-Turk television.
Bureau Report
The specter of a return to fighting raises the possibility of renewed instability in southeastern Turkey as well as in northern Iraq, where an estimated 5,000 Turkish Kurdish rebels are hiding out in mountain villages and caves. With US soldiers in neighboring Iraq, the future of the rebels has become a key issue in US-Turkish relations, especially since trouble in northern Iraq would unsettle one of the few quiet areas of the American-occupied country.
At issue are rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, who fled or were driven out of the country in a massive military push by the Turkish Army in the late 1990s. They were welcomed in northern Iraq since it was under control of Iraqi Kurds. Today, the area is still run by Iraqi Kurdish groups, and the US Army has only a small presence in the area. Yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the United States to act against the Turkish Kurds in Iraq. "After September 11, Turkey fulfilled its responsibilities in combatting international terrorism ... Now it is time for you to fulfill your responsibility," he told private CNN-Turk television.
Bureau Report