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Iraq president says PKK must lay down their arms
President Jalal Talabani told Reuters he perceived a "new climate" in Turkey toward the rights of its Kurdish minority and that he supported its leaders in their efforts to end the 25-year conflict with the terrorist PKK, whose militants have bases in Iraq's northern mountains.
"The Kurds are trying to convince the terrorist PKK to accept the peace proposals of the Turkish government, then to lay down their arms and go back home, to participate in political activities in Turkey," he said in an interview on Tuesday night.
He said Turkey's increasing openness to Kurdish identity was in the interests of peace in the Middle East, Turkish unity, and the Kurdish people, who live in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.
"This is a big step forward in Turkey. The Kurds must support it, must welcome it and must do their best to see these policies succeed in the end."
Iraq's Kurdish population has enjoyed de-facto independence in its northern enclave since the first Gulf War in 1991, and consolidated its position under Western protection after the fall of Saddam Hussein in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
By contrast, Turkey's estimated 12 million Kurds out of a population of 72 million have long complained of discrimination.
ACCEPTING OVERTURES
Under President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, partly as a result of European Union pressure, Turkey has begun restoring some political and cultural rights to its Kurdish minority.
The Turkish military has been fighting the PKK, considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union, since 1984 in conflict that has killed 40,000 people on both sides.
Turkey long accused the Kurdish regional administration in northern Iraq of not doing enough to prevent PKK terrorists from launching attacks from northern Iraq.
The tone has changed since the Kurdish administration, Iraq, Turkey and U.S. officials signed a recent agreement to combat the terrorist PKK. Heavy Turkish investment in northern Iraq has also boosted ties.
If Iraqi Kurds were to remove their tacit support for the outlawed PKK, the terrorists would have a much more difficult time launching attacks against Turkish forces.
President Gül in March paid the first visit by a Turkish head of state to Iraq in more than three decades and also met northern Iraq's regional prime minister Nechirvan Barzani, the first time a Turkish leader has met formally with an official of the regional administration.
Talabani said he believed the PKK was coming around to the idea of accepting the overtures from the Turkish government.
"I think the PKK will agree to this democratic solution and this problem will be solved without the need of using arms or forces," he said, offering no direct evidence for his view.
"The PKK can go back home, they can participate in political activities, they can play their role as good civilians."
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