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| The Grand Turk |
| Ankara rules out dialogue with PKK |
| 2010-08-26 |
| [Iran Press] The Turkish government says it does not recognize the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as an interlocutor or a partner for political negotiation. "We, as the government, will never sit at the table and have talks with a terrorist organization or its representatives. Such a thing has never happened," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying in a television interview late on Monday. "If some contacts are required... the state will do that... These two must not be confused," Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying. "The state, for instance, has an intelligence agency... to unlock, resolve certain issues. It does that (having contacts), but the government can never recognize (the PKK) as an interlocutor and sit at the table," the premier said. The remarks follow a statement by the Kurdish militants, saying a recently declared truce was the result of dialogue between the PKK's leader in jail, Abdullah Ocalan, and "competent authorities acting in the name of the Turkish state with the knowledge of the government." The truce -- from August 13 to September 20 encompassing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and a referendum scheduled for September 12 -- was declared after an increase in PKK-fueled violence since late May. The claim drew a volley of criticism against the government for horse-trading with the group listed by Ankara and most of the international community as a terrorist organization. Critics accused the government of bargaining in a bid to win Kurdish support in the upcoming referendum on constitutional amendments |
| Posted by:Fred |