Kurdish rebel leader warns Turkey against Iraq incursion
Pastor Dale Morgan
Kurdish rebel leader warns Turkey against Iraq incursion*
· Concern grows over army build-up on border
· PKK man predicts political and military disaster
Michael Howard in the Qandil mountains
Monday June 18, 2007
The Guardian
A Kurdish rebel leader has warned Turkey that it faces disaster if its
troops and tanks cross into northern Iraq, amid growing concern of a big
Turkish operation to hunt down Kurdish guerrillas holed up across the
border.
The Turkish army faces "a political and military disaster" if its
generals give orders for a cross-border offensive, Cemil Bayik, one of
the two most powerful figures in the Kurdistan Workers party, or PKK,
told the Guardian at a hideout in the Qandil mountains on the border
with Iran. Mr Bayik said his units did not seek a fight, but "would
defend ourselves if attacked". It could become "a quagmire for them [the
Turkish army] and create space for Iran to interfere in Iraq also," he said.
Over the past month, tensions have been rising in Iraqi Kurdistan, with
the Turkish army massing thousands of troops and tanks along the
238-mile border and its hawkish chief of staff, General Yasar Buyukanit,
repeatedly pressing a reluctant government in Ankara for permission to
go in after the PKK.
Turkey says the group, which is regarded as a terrorist organisation by
the US, the EU and Turkey, is launching attacks from its mountain
hideouts in Iraq. It accuses Iraqi Kurds of helping them. The rebel
group is thought to have 2,000-3,000 well-trained but lightly armed
fighters inside Iraqi territory, where its strategic leadership also
resides. The bulk of its membership is on Turkish soil, many in poor
city suburbs.
In the last few weeks, the Turkish army has shelled suspected rebel
positions on the Iraqi side, and staged a number of small-scale
incursions. Some observers believe it wants to set up a "buffer zone" in
Iraq to prevent the fighters of the PKK crossing into Turkey.
The US and other Nato allies of Turkey have repeatedly warned Ankara
against an incursion into Iraq, while calling on Baghdad and Iraq's
Kurdish authorities to take action to resolve the PKK issue. The Iraqi
foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, said at the weekend that
discussions should involve the Turkish and Iraqi governments, the US and
the Kurdistan regional government. Turkey refuses to recognize the
Kurdish regional government and says it will talk only to Baghdad and
Washington on the issue.
Mr Bayik, who together with fellow rebel chief Murat Karyilan tops
Turkey's list of most wanted, said the Turkish chief of staff was
"playing a dangerous game" that threatened to undermine democratic
politics in Turkey by ousting the prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's
AK party from power and at the same time destabilising Iraq's Kurdistan
region. He said the general was using the issue of the PKK's presence in
Iraq as an excuse to "annihilate Kurdishness".
"Gen Buyukanit wants everyone to be a happy Turk. And those who don't
agree he brands as a traitor. He wants first to smash the Kurdish
regional government in Iraq. He wants second to ruin any chances of a
referendum being held on Kirkuk, and the PKK issue is really only third
on his list of priorities."
He said the PKK had announced no new ceasefires, as reported last week,
but that the previous "unilateral" ceasefire... announced late last
year, still held. "So far we have heard nothing positive from the
Turkish side, which makes us wonder whether they really do want peace,
or just continue into a destructive war to serve the military's own
purposes," he said.
"We are not a terrorist movement, we condemn attacks on civilians. We
are freedom fighters," Mr Bayik insisted, saying he would work to
convince the international community of his group's commitment to
peaceful resolution of the Kurdish question. "We are open to dialogue
and we welcome it," he said.
Until recently the PKK's main camps lined the steep valleys and ravines
near the group's headquarters on Qandil mountain. But now the camps have
largely been abandoned, say PKK sources. The fighters are on the move,
staying in the same place for barely more than a night.
Mr Bayik said the PKK, which began life 30 years ago advocating a
pan-Kurdish Marxist-Leninist state, was no longer a separatist movement.
"We are not looking for independence, we are not even looking for
federalism like the Iraqi Kurds have. The solution lies in granting the
Kurds of Turkey language and cultural rights and freedom of speech."
He also dismissed the idea of a general amnesty for PKK rebels in Turkey
unless it was accompanied by genuine reform. In the past few years
Turkey has granted its Kurdish population more cultural rights, but
critics say the reforms are paper thin.