Iraq promises PKK crackdown
Iraq promises to close PKK offices as protestors take to the streets in Turkey. Image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license versions 3, 2.5, 2 and 1
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Tuesday, 23, Oct 2007 07:06
Iraq has pledged to offer tangible support to Turkey in its ongoing clashes with fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK).
The country's prime minister Nouri al-Maliki said that Baghdad was closing down the group's offices in northern Iraq following a spate of violent attacks attributed to the group in Turkey.
Today tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets as funerals were held for the 12 soldiers killed in a PKK raid last weekend.
Ankara, which last week gained parliamentary approval to mount a military incursion into northern Iraq targeting Kurdish militants, has received support from both the US and Britain over the last two days.
And now Iraq has added its voice to the growing international condemnation of PKK, which is fighting for an independent Kurdish state straddling Turkey and Iraq; a cause that has claimed an estimated 40,000 lives since the 1970s.
"The PKK is a terrorist organisation and we have taken a decision to shut down their offices and not allow them to operate on Iraqi soil," Mr al-Maliki said in Baghdad after holding talks with Turkish foreign minister Ali Babacan.
"We will also work on limiting their terrorist activities which are threatening Iraq and Turkey."
Earlier, UK prime minister Gordon Brown gave his firm backing to Turkey, telling a press conference at Downing Street that the PKK was now proscribed by the UK as a terrorist group.
His comments followed a meeting with Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at No 10.
Mr Brown "absolutely and unequivocally" condemned the attacks and said the UK would do all it could to help "investigate and root out" terrorists operating in the border region of south-east Turkey and northern Iraq.