Ankara tells Barzani: Will act when needed

Turkish Daily News

*Appearing indifferent to verbal challenges by Barzani that if Turkey attacked a new Kurdish state, a 'Kurdish intifadeh' will turn Northern Iraq streets into 'a graveyard for the Turkish military,' Gurel says without talking too much, if Turkish action is needed Turkey will undertake it
*Gurel says growing anti-Turkish rhetoric by the Barzani group might be part of their effort to make sure their voice is heard if and when a tumult they hope breaks up in the region. Gurel says Turkey does not think an increase in tension in relations is in the benefit of anyone


Turkey warned Friday that remarks by an Iraqi Kurdish leader that if the Turkish military attacked a Kurdish state Northern Iraq would be converted into a graveyard for Turkish soldiers and that would create tension in ties that would not serve anyone.

Returning from a trip to Strasbourg and Brussels where he pushed EU executives to give a date for the start of accession talks as Turkey has fulfilled the political criteria required for membership, Gurel reiterated that a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq was unacceptable for Turkey.

The deputy prime minister and foreign minister stressed that he did not understand to whom an increase in relations between Turkey and the Kurdistan Democratic Party ()KDP) of Mesoud Barzani would serve. He said an increase in tension would not serve anyone.

Gurel said at a time when the Middle East situation was so complicated, he would not expect anyone to pull their relations with Turkey into a tension.

Asked by a reporter how he evaluated the increase in similar remarks of Barzani against Turkey recently, Gurel said growing anti-Turkish rhetoric by the Barzani group might be part of their effort to make sure their voice is heard if and when a tumult they hope breaks up in the region.

Turkey has been stating that it would never accept establishment of a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq and would consider such a development as a cause for war.

The KDP of Barzani controls about half of Northern Iraq. Turkey has repeatedly said that it will not accept a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq and has told visiting U.S. officials that a future Iraq cannot include Kurdish independence.

"We will act if and when it is needed," Gurel asserted Friday.

The latest tension in relations between Turkey and the KDP erupted when in a Greman newspaper interview Barzani declared that if Iraqi Kurds declare a state and that state was attacked by Turkey, the Kurds would revolt like the Palestinians and convert the streets of Northern Iraq into a graveyard for Turkish soldiers.

"We won't concede a millimeter of our territory to the Turks," Barzani said in remarks to the weekly Die Zeit, published Thursday. "A Kurdish 'intifadeh' would turn our streets into a graveyard for the Turkish military."

Still, while Kurds' "greatest wish" is for an independent state, Barzani conceded that "in today's situation, with no one supporting us, autonomy is the more realistic goal."

Turkey for 15 years fought Kurdish separatist terrorists in southern and southeastern parts of Turkey, an area that borders the Iraqi Kurdish enclave and says that a Kurdish state would serve as an inspiration for the separatists.

Turning to U.S. hopes for a change of regime in Iraq, Barzani said that the Kurds "if equipped with more modern weapons could win the war without America."

Barzani predicted that it is "only a matter of time" before Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's military rises up against him.

Barzani added that a war against Iraq would be "no more than a walk in the park" for the United States.

Saddam's forces, he added, "are simply cannon fodder for him. It is only a matter of time before Saddam's soldiers rise up to destroy him."

Barzani said that, while Saddam's removal is the top priority, "the question of who comes after him and how Iraq is governed is equally important."

"Before we make concessions to the United States, we want them to guarantee us a federal system," he added.

Ankara - Turkish Daily News