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| Iraq |
| PKK slam Talabani over weapons ultimatum |
| 2009-03-30 |
| Turkish Kurd rebels in northern Iraq slammed President Jalal Talabani on Sunday for giving an ultimatum during a visit by his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul for them to lay down their arms. "Talabani wants to please the Turkish generals, and we have lost all hope of seeing him play a positive role in a solution to the Kurdish problem," senior Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) official Murad Qiralian said. "No one can eject us from our mountain stronghold here, and recent battles are proof of this," he said. "We recommend rapprochement between Kurds instead of submitting to pressure exerted by neighboring countries." On Wednesday, the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish regional government backed Talabani's call for the PKK rebels to lay down their guns. Nechirvan Barzani told reporters in the regional capital of Arbil that it was "not reasonable for a group to carry out attacks against a state and then return to our region." On March 23, Talabani, himself a Kurd, said during a trip to Baghdad by Gul that the PKK "must become involved in political and parliamentary life instead of resorting to weapons, since using guns does wrong to Kurds and Iraqis ..." "The PKK has two choices: lay down its guns or leave Iraq," Talabani said at a joint news conference with Gul. |
| Posted by:Fred |