Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan directed strong criticism against the United States, saying its stance on the problem of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) presence in Iraq was “encouraging” the terrorist organization।
Toptan, speaking in an interview with private NTV, said US claims that the PKK was out of reach for them in northern Iraq did not reflect the truth, as many American and other journalists are known to have visited PKK camps and interviewed its leaders in the region. The US inaction “hurts deeply” the Turkish public, he said, and added the “US is at a point to make a decision: it will either act with its long-time ally or it won’t.”
The Turkish Parliament authorized a cross-border operation into northern Iraq last week that allows the government to hit the PKK bases, on the heels of a recent surge in PKK attacks on military and civilian targets. In response to a comment recalling that some foreign capitals were still asking Turkey to give another chance to diplomacy before sending troops into northern Iraq, Toptan expressed the opinion that Turkey’s time has been consumed for too long with the policies of engagement and said all diplomatic paths have already been exhausted. Toptan also said Turkey has not reached the point in the process of a military incursion into northern Iraq where it will declare a law of extraordinary circumstances or martial law that would override civil laws in the Southeast.
In response to a question on certain proposals made recently by some political parties to introduce OHAL -- a state of martial law in the Southeast which was in effect in the ‘90s -- Toptan said: “I see all the criticism being made as showing that in Turkey, sensitivity, care and concern remain in place. You could agree with these or choose not to.” He said the government would consider all propositions of the opposition but added: “However, if you want to hear my personal opinion, Turkey as of now is most certainly not at a stage where it needs to declare a law of extraordinary circumstances or OHAL because Turkey does not have any problems inside it that threaten our citizens in any way.”
Turkey has been struggling with terrorism for approximately 35 years, Toptan said. “The target of separatist terrorism is most certainly to disturb Turkey and consume its energy, sources and strength that would otherwise be used for infrastructure services or industrialization,” Toptan said.
26 Ekim 2007 Cuma
Iraq threatens to cut off oil if sanctions imposed
The speaker of Iraq's Parliament has warned Turkey that his government would cut off the flow of oil from northern Iraq if Ankara followed through on its threat to level economic sanctions against the country।
Mahmoud al-Mashhadani's comments came on Thursday, a day after Turkey's top leadership agreed to recommend that the government take economic measures to force the cooperation of Iraqis against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been staging cross-border attacks against Turkish troops.
"Northern Iraq cannot be pressured," al-Mashhadani told reporters in the Syrian capital of Damascus. "Iraq is a rich country, and if there are economic pressures, we will cut off the Ceyhan pipeline[s]," he said, referring to two oil pipelines that run from northern Iraq to Turkey's Ceyhan oil terminal on the Mediterranean Sea.
Turkey has threatened to stage an incursion into northern Iraq if Iraqi Kurds and US-led coalition forces do not crack down on the PKK based there, particularly following an ambush Sunday that killed 12 Turkish soldiers near the border.
The decision to pursue economic measures was made with the hope of avoiding such an operation, which could have destabilizing effects on the entire region. Turkey's influential National Security Council (MGK), including the top leadership of the Cabinet and the commanding officers of the powerful Turkish military, agreed on Wednesday to take economic measures to force cooperation by Iraqis against the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by a large majority of the international community.
The MGK meeting concluded with a decision to recommend that the government "first take necessary economic measures against those groups directly or indirectly supporting the separatist terrorist organization in the region." Economic measures will cause serious problems for Iraq's relatively stable north, which is highly dependent on Turkish investment as the main engine of its economy. From food to energy, all vital supplies are obtained from Turkey. Turkish contractors are restructuring the north by constructing roads, hospitals, residential buildings, apartments and infrastructure. At the MGK meeting possible areas of embargo were identified, and it was decided that no measures should be implemented with respect to health and medication, despite the fact that 75 percent of medical products and medication are transported through the Habur border crossing.
Turkey may cut the electrical power provided to northern Iraq and prevent the passage of fuel products. Moreover, Turkey may stop cement, iron and paper exports to Iraq, possibly leading to serious repercussions in the reconstruction of Iraq. Also, as a primary supplier, Turkey may opt for implementing measures concerning the foodstuffs supplied to the region. The MGK also decided that the Cabinet should determine the details of the embargo in the shortest time possible and make the embargo decision. The date of the next Cabinet meeting is currently not known, as its original date coincides with the anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic.
Ankara rejects reported Syria mediation
Al-Mashhadani, who is on a five-day visit to Syria, also said Syria is considering mediating between Turkey and Iraq in an effort to end the crisis. Yet Turkish officials at the Foreign Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Today's Zaman on Friday that there is no such plan. "There is a plan for mediation, and it will be announced at the right time if the conditions are met," he said, following talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and his deputy, Farouk al-Sharaa. Al-Mashhadani did not elaborate but said Assad expressed readiness to assume a positive role in solving the problem.
However, a senior Turkish official said, "A plan for Syria's mediation between Turkey and Iraq is out of question."
Al-Mashhadani said Iraq was "ready to do everything that would safeguard Turkish national security." He also expressed hope that Turkey would not pursue a military incursion, saying "a political peaceful solution is the best."
Mahmoud al-Mashhadani's comments came on Thursday, a day after Turkey's top leadership agreed to recommend that the government take economic measures to force the cooperation of Iraqis against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been staging cross-border attacks against Turkish troops.
"Northern Iraq cannot be pressured," al-Mashhadani told reporters in the Syrian capital of Damascus. "Iraq is a rich country, and if there are economic pressures, we will cut off the Ceyhan pipeline[s]," he said, referring to two oil pipelines that run from northern Iraq to Turkey's Ceyhan oil terminal on the Mediterranean Sea.
Turkey has threatened to stage an incursion into northern Iraq if Iraqi Kurds and US-led coalition forces do not crack down on the PKK based there, particularly following an ambush Sunday that killed 12 Turkish soldiers near the border.
The decision to pursue economic measures was made with the hope of avoiding such an operation, which could have destabilizing effects on the entire region. Turkey's influential National Security Council (MGK), including the top leadership of the Cabinet and the commanding officers of the powerful Turkish military, agreed on Wednesday to take economic measures to force cooperation by Iraqis against the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by a large majority of the international community.
The MGK meeting concluded with a decision to recommend that the government "first take necessary economic measures against those groups directly or indirectly supporting the separatist terrorist organization in the region." Economic measures will cause serious problems for Iraq's relatively stable north, which is highly dependent on Turkish investment as the main engine of its economy. From food to energy, all vital supplies are obtained from Turkey. Turkish contractors are restructuring the north by constructing roads, hospitals, residential buildings, apartments and infrastructure. At the MGK meeting possible areas of embargo were identified, and it was decided that no measures should be implemented with respect to health and medication, despite the fact that 75 percent of medical products and medication are transported through the Habur border crossing.
Turkey may cut the electrical power provided to northern Iraq and prevent the passage of fuel products. Moreover, Turkey may stop cement, iron and paper exports to Iraq, possibly leading to serious repercussions in the reconstruction of Iraq. Also, as a primary supplier, Turkey may opt for implementing measures concerning the foodstuffs supplied to the region. The MGK also decided that the Cabinet should determine the details of the embargo in the shortest time possible and make the embargo decision. The date of the next Cabinet meeting is currently not known, as its original date coincides with the anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic.
Ankara rejects reported Syria mediation
Al-Mashhadani, who is on a five-day visit to Syria, also said Syria is considering mediating between Turkey and Iraq in an effort to end the crisis. Yet Turkish officials at the Foreign Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Today's Zaman on Friday that there is no such plan. "There is a plan for mediation, and it will be announced at the right time if the conditions are met," he said, following talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and his deputy, Farouk al-Sharaa. Al-Mashhadani did not elaborate but said Assad expressed readiness to assume a positive role in solving the problem.
However, a senior Turkish official said, "A plan for Syria's mediation between Turkey and Iraq is out of question."
Al-Mashhadani said Iraq was "ready to do everything that would safeguard Turkish national security." He also expressed hope that Turkey would not pursue a military incursion, saying "a political peaceful solution is the best."
Last-ditch talks fail to produce result
A delegation of Iraqi officials having talks in Ankara in an attempt to avert a Turkish incursion to hit the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) failed to offer satisfactory proposals to deal with the terrorist group, Turkish officials said, dealing a serious blow to hopes that diplomacy could prevent military action.
A Turkish diplomat close to the talks described the Iraqi proposals as "unsatisfactory." Further talks are expected to be held today, but there was little hope on the Turkish side for a breakthrough.
Parliament passed a motion last week authorizing a cross-border operation into northern Iraq to hit the PKK bases there in response to a recent surge in PKK attacks on military and civilian targets. As the Turkish and Iraqi officials sat for talks in Ankara, the military continued to send troops to the border, and warplanes attacked suspected PKK positions in the mountainous parts of the border provinces of Siirt, Hakkari and Şırnak.
Turkish leaders have repeatedly said the era of verbal commitments was over, pressing for concrete steps from the Iraqi and US side against the PKK in northern Iraq. In televised remarks yesterday, government spokesman Cemil Çiçek said Turkey wants Iraq to hand over all members of the PKK, adding that Ankara has given Baghdad a list of wanted PKK terrorists. Çiçek also said the air forces had hit targets in northern Iraq but that there had been no full land incursion.
It was not immediately clear what the Iraqi delegation offered, but Turkish officials earlier said what they would say would be of crucial importance in determining the future course of action. "These talks are make-or-break talks," said a Turkish diplomat speaking ahead of the meetings. "This is the last chance to resolve the issue through talks before resorting to a possible cross-border operation."
The Turkish delegation in the talks, led by both Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Interior Minister Beşir Atalay, and the Iraqi delegation, led by Defense Minister Abdul-Qader Jassim and Minister of State for National Security Sherwan al-Waili, held the first round of talks at the Foreign Ministry.
The Iraqi delegation included Iraq’s intelligence chief and representatives of the two major Kurdish parties in northern Iraq as well as a US military officer.
“We came with concrete steps, concrete proposals,” the Anatolia news agency quoted Jassim as saying after his arrival Thursday, in apparent response to Babacan’s Tuesday remarks.
Speaking after a break between the two rounds of the talks, Mohammed Askeri, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Defense Ministry, told reporters that talks produced “positive” results. “Very important talks are under way. There are positive results, everything is happening as planned,” Askeri told journalists.
Meanwhile, Babacan went to General Staff headquarters for consultations, and Atalay, accompanied by Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ertuğrul Apakan, went to the Prime Ministry, where he was assumed to have briefed and consulted with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over the telephone as the latter was in Romania for an official visit.
During the same hours, some of the Iraqis returned to their Ankara lodgings in a police guesthouse, where they were hosted for security reasons. While the Iraqi delegation remained there before heading to the Hilton Hotel, US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Nancy McEldowney visited the guesthouse accompanied by a US military delegation said to have come from Iraq. The US delegation made no comment to reporters.
Turkey has amassed up to 100,000 troops along the mountainous border in preparation for a possible cross-border operation to crush about 3,000 PKK terrorists who launch deadly attacks into Turkey from northern Iraq.
“We are moving more troops from other provinces to the Şırnak province,” a military source, who declined to be named, told Reuters in southeastern Turkey. Turkey’s military has boosted troop levels, mainly in the Hakkari and Şırnak provinces bordering Iraq.
Security sources told Reuters 10 Sikorsky helicopters carrying troops and military equipment took off from the town of Yüksekova in Hakkari and headed for the Dağlıca region near the Iraqi border.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by a large majority of the international community, has claimed 42 lives in Turkey this month alone.
US won’t do anything against PKK
Washington is opposed to a unilateral military move by its NATO ally, fearing it would destabilize Iraq’s north. Turkish nationalist opposition parties have accused Erdoğan and his government of being too soft on terrorism and of being swayed by US pressure to not send troops into Iraq. Anti-US sentiment has soared in Turkey over the past few years due to Washington’s refusal to crack down on the PKK, which uses northern Iraq as a launching pad for attacks on Turkish targets, despite the fact that the PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the US capital as well.
Underlining the US reluctance to get directly involved in the Kurdish-run northern Iraq, the senior US military commander in northern Iraq said Friday his forces planned to do “absolutely nothing” to counter the PKK. Major General Benjamin Mixon, commander of Multi-National Division North, said Iraq’s three northern provinces were under the control of the Kurdish provincial government and he had no instructions to take action in the border area.
A Turkish diplomat close to the talks described the Iraqi proposals as "unsatisfactory." Further talks are expected to be held today, but there was little hope on the Turkish side for a breakthrough.
Parliament passed a motion last week authorizing a cross-border operation into northern Iraq to hit the PKK bases there in response to a recent surge in PKK attacks on military and civilian targets. As the Turkish and Iraqi officials sat for talks in Ankara, the military continued to send troops to the border, and warplanes attacked suspected PKK positions in the mountainous parts of the border provinces of Siirt, Hakkari and Şırnak.
Turkish leaders have repeatedly said the era of verbal commitments was over, pressing for concrete steps from the Iraqi and US side against the PKK in northern Iraq. In televised remarks yesterday, government spokesman Cemil Çiçek said Turkey wants Iraq to hand over all members of the PKK, adding that Ankara has given Baghdad a list of wanted PKK terrorists. Çiçek also said the air forces had hit targets in northern Iraq but that there had been no full land incursion.
It was not immediately clear what the Iraqi delegation offered, but Turkish officials earlier said what they would say would be of crucial importance in determining the future course of action. "These talks are make-or-break talks," said a Turkish diplomat speaking ahead of the meetings. "This is the last chance to resolve the issue through talks before resorting to a possible cross-border operation."
The Turkish delegation in the talks, led by both Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Interior Minister Beşir Atalay, and the Iraqi delegation, led by Defense Minister Abdul-Qader Jassim and Minister of State for National Security Sherwan al-Waili, held the first round of talks at the Foreign Ministry.
The Iraqi delegation included Iraq’s intelligence chief and representatives of the two major Kurdish parties in northern Iraq as well as a US military officer.
“We came with concrete steps, concrete proposals,” the Anatolia news agency quoted Jassim as saying after his arrival Thursday, in apparent response to Babacan’s Tuesday remarks.
Speaking after a break between the two rounds of the talks, Mohammed Askeri, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Defense Ministry, told reporters that talks produced “positive” results. “Very important talks are under way. There are positive results, everything is happening as planned,” Askeri told journalists.
Meanwhile, Babacan went to General Staff headquarters for consultations, and Atalay, accompanied by Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ertuğrul Apakan, went to the Prime Ministry, where he was assumed to have briefed and consulted with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over the telephone as the latter was in Romania for an official visit.
During the same hours, some of the Iraqis returned to their Ankara lodgings in a police guesthouse, where they were hosted for security reasons. While the Iraqi delegation remained there before heading to the Hilton Hotel, US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Nancy McEldowney visited the guesthouse accompanied by a US military delegation said to have come from Iraq. The US delegation made no comment to reporters.
Turkey has amassed up to 100,000 troops along the mountainous border in preparation for a possible cross-border operation to crush about 3,000 PKK terrorists who launch deadly attacks into Turkey from northern Iraq.
“We are moving more troops from other provinces to the Şırnak province,” a military source, who declined to be named, told Reuters in southeastern Turkey. Turkey’s military has boosted troop levels, mainly in the Hakkari and Şırnak provinces bordering Iraq.
Security sources told Reuters 10 Sikorsky helicopters carrying troops and military equipment took off from the town of Yüksekova in Hakkari and headed for the Dağlıca region near the Iraqi border.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by a large majority of the international community, has claimed 42 lives in Turkey this month alone.
US won’t do anything against PKK
Washington is opposed to a unilateral military move by its NATO ally, fearing it would destabilize Iraq’s north. Turkish nationalist opposition parties have accused Erdoğan and his government of being too soft on terrorism and of being swayed by US pressure to not send troops into Iraq. Anti-US sentiment has soared in Turkey over the past few years due to Washington’s refusal to crack down on the PKK, which uses northern Iraq as a launching pad for attacks on Turkish targets, despite the fact that the PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the US capital as well.
Underlining the US reluctance to get directly involved in the Kurdish-run northern Iraq, the senior US military commander in northern Iraq said Friday his forces planned to do “absolutely nothing” to counter the PKK. Major General Benjamin Mixon, commander of Multi-National Division North, said Iraq’s three northern provinces were under the control of the Kurdish provincial government and he had no instructions to take action in the border area.
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