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Iraq Reports Fresh Turkish Incursion In The North
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| Talabani and Barzani committed to unified Iraq |
BAGHDAD, Jan. 16 (News Agencies) - Iraq accused Turkey Wednesday of carrying out a fresh incursion into the north of the country and called on Ankara to pull its troops out of Iraqi territory.
"This new Turkish aggression against northern Iraq is part of a series of flagrant violations of Iraq's sovereignty by Turkish armed forces," said Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, in a message to U.N. Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
"Turkey must immediately cease its acts of aggression and withdraw its troops from Iraqi territory," said the message, quoted by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) news agency.
Sabri urged the U.N. chief to intervene to bring an end to Turkey's "military aggression and meddling in Iraq's affairs," INA said.
The Turkish army frequently launches operations into neighboring Iraq against separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who are believed to have taken shelter there since the 1991 Gulf War.
Western-protected northern Iraq, which has been outside Baghdad's control since the Gulf War, is controlled by two main Kurdish factions.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massud Barzani controls an area along the Turkish border, while Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) administers areas close to the Iranian border.
Meanwhile, the KDP and PUK, in a joint statement carried by news agencies, denied any aim to establish an independent state in the breakaway region they run and vowed that they were committed to a unified Iraq.
The two rival Kurdish parties, KDP and PUK, said that despite their opposition to President Saddam Hussein’s regime, they are committed to a unified Iraq and are wary of Washington’s so called “War on terror” spreading to Iraq.
Speculation surfaced on the ground on the establishment of an independent Kurdish state in Northern Iraq in the event of a U.S. military action against Baghdad. Kurdish parties are accused of harboring such plans.
“Both the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, as the two main political groups in Iraq Kurdistan, vehemently deny these unfounded and provocative accusations,” their statement read.
“We are advocating for the territorial integrity and unity of Iraq with the democratic and a federal solution to the Kurdish question,” it added.
Kurdish separatists have waged a 17-year-long campaign for self-rule in the Turkish region bordering Iraq, an issue strongly objected by Turkey. The war has claimed more than 30,000 lives but has dropped sharply since the capture of the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan. The PUK and the KDP have administered the Kurdish enclave in Northern Iraq in the awake of the 1991 Gulf War.
Meanwhile, U.S. sources say that they are concerned about the growing influence of Iran in northern Iraq. They say that while Iran has been involved in peacemaking between the PUK and the Islamic groups, it has also been making serious inroads into the Barzani area, the Turkish Daily News reported
Barzani has visited Iran and has signed important protocols for energy supply and to boost trade.
Sources say that the more Ankara alienates Barzani, the more he moves towards Iran, and this hurts Ankara's ability to influence the region.
Separately, Turkey, vital to the U.S.-led war in the region, appeared Tuesday, January 15, to be softening its opposition to any attack on Iraq, arguing instead that what matters is Iraq's territorial integrity.
In a diplomatic level, Turkish Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, is in Washington this week to bolster economic and bilateral relations between the two nations.
Ecevit met Tuesday, January 15, with U.S. Vice President, Dick Cheney. The two did not talk about Iraq, Turkish officials said, but Ecevit is expected to discuss the subject Wednesday in separate meetings with President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Ecevit has always been strongly opposed to any attempt to overthrow President Saddam Hussein of Iraq and ready to underline serious financial losses that Turkey incurred after the 1991 Persian Gulf War against Iraq, Turkey's neighbor to the south.
"As a consequence of the Gulf War, Turkey has lost over $50 billion in trade with its neighbors and traditional trading partners,'' news agencies reported, quoting Ecevit in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“It has always been our objective to bring our economic and trade relations with the United States up to the level of the existing strategic alliance between our two countries,'' Ecevit said in his speech at the chamber. The premier said he wants to negotiate establishment of Qualified Industrial Zones, as Washington established in Jordan. Output from the zones enters the United States free of tariffs or quotas.
Ecevit thanked Cheney for U.S. support for loans granted by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF has lent $19 billion to help Turkey out of a serious financial crisis and is expected to lend another $10 billion this year.
Turkey also is seeking help with $5 billion in military debts it has with the United States.
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