Kurds limiting PKK actions in northern Iraq, says US commander

“We see a great reduction in PKK activities; you know, again, another thing that's changed a few years ago. That was pretty significant. And just about a year ago there was more activity. But there is a significant reduction,” Brig. Gen. Robert Brown, the deputy commanding general of 25th Infantry Division/Multi-national Division-North, told reporters as he joined a US Department of Defense news briefing via teleconference from Iraq on Tuesday. Brown's area of operation includes northern Iraq.

“I know the Kurdish security forces and the Kurdish region have been working with the central government of Iraq …very closely to reduce the capabilities of the PKK ... It's greatly reduced, and we just don't see that as an issue in the north like it used to be a few years ago,” Brown also said, praising the Iraqi Kurdish forces' efforts in protecting the country's borders.

Relations between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds, once friendly, grew strained following the US-led war in Iraq in 2003 due to the presence of the PKK in Kurdish-administered northern Iraq. Ankara refused to participate in dialogue with the Kurdish leaders and the military conducted numerous cross-border operations, including a major ground incursion in February 2008, against PKK targets in northern Iraq. But the trend has shifted since then, with Turkish officials holding public talks with Kurdish leaders and the Kurdish authorities joining in efforts by Turkey, the US and the Iraqi central government to eliminate the PKK.

On Monday, a small group of PKK members from Iraq crossed the border and surrendered to Turkish authorities, a move widely hailed as a landmark step that could pave the way for the laying down of arms by the terrorist group, which has been fighting against security forces since 1984.

At a daily press briefing held on Tuesday, US State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly was reminded of the recent developments in regards to surrender of the PKK members and was asked whether he believed that this process would lead to similar steps and eventually to an end of the PKK's presence in northern Iraq.

“As you know, we consider the PKK to be a terrorist organization. We support the efforts of our Turkish allies to deal with the problem of the PKK. We are very supportive of the territorial integrity of Turkey,” Kelly said. “We have also called on Turkey to open up dialogue with the Kurdish population of Turkey, allowing the Kurdish population more cultural rights, more language rights, which the government of Turkey has been doing. And I think we would welcome any steps that would lead to a dealing with the -- with ultimate reconciliation of some of the differences in Turkey between the Kurdish-speaking population and Turkey,” Kelly added. The Turkish government launched an initiative in late July to solve the Kurdish question. The government has yet to provide details, but officials have frequently underlined that the process aims to make every Turkish citizen an equal and free member of a highly developed democracy.