Iraq wants Kurdish separatists to leave soon
- Reuters
- 18/10/2007 00:00:00
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq wants Kurdish separatist guerrillas based in northern Iraq to leave as soon as possible, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Thursday.
Zebari said he did not expect Turkey to launch a major military operation in Iraq anytime soon, saying that if it were to attack it would probably be limited airstrikes on suspected Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) positions.
"This party is not present with the approval of the Iraqi government or the government of the Kurdish region. The Iraqi government has asked them and other military groups to leave Iraq," Zebari told Reuters in an interview.
"Absolutely, with no doubt, our formal request is that they leave Iraqi soil and leave Iraq for its people and do not bring us more problems than we're already suffering. Kurdistan is a stable area and it is not in the interests of any party, or any side, to threaten its stability."
Asked if the government was giving the PKK a timetable to leave, Zebari said: "As soon as possible."
Zebari said the Iraqi government was not comfortable with a Turkish parliamentary vote this week giving its military permission to cross into northern Iraq to hunt down PKK members.
"The Turkish decision does not serve Iraqi-Turkish relations, especially as it gives Turkish forces the authorization to violate the sovereignty of another country," Zebari said.
"The Iraqi government is not comfortable with such decision," he said. "This permission is a sword hanging over the neck of Iraq and its unity and sovereignty and we take it seriously."
- Reuters
- 18/10/2007 00:00:00