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.
| Interesting how the 'strategic leadership' of these movements never quite seem to put themselves in danger. Must be too important. |
"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.
| "We're freedom fighters, dammit! That's why we set off bombs on the streets of Istanbul, and .. um, .. oh forget it!" |
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.