Turkey, the US and Iraq will set up a joint center in northern Iraq to curb Turkish Kurd rebels taking refuge in the region, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Friday.
“The plan is to set up a joint command of representatives from the three parties in Arbil,” Zebari, on a three-day visit to Turkey, told reporters after talks with Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan.
It would be “a key center to work together to ... ensure border security and prevent cross-border attacks on Turkey,” he said.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has long taken refuge in mountainous bases in northern Iraq, using the region as a springboard for attacks on Turkish targets across the border.
Zebari called the PKK a “poisonous element” in bilateral ties, stressing that both the Baghdad government and the Kurdish administration of northern Iraq were determined to cooperate with Turkey to tackle the problem.
“There will be a combination of political, economic, military and intelligence measures to remove this poisonous element in our relations,” he said.
The center in Arbil, he said, will be part of recently inaugurated trilateral consultations between Turkey, the US and Iraq to outline measures to curb the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community.
It would serve as “a field center to coordinate all activities on the ground,” he said.
A Turkish diplomat, who requested anonymity, said the center would deal mostly with sharing intelligence on the PKK.
Ankara has often accused the Iraqi Kurds, who run an autonomous administration in northern Iraq, of tolerating and even aiding the rebels.
But in a policy shift last year, it said it would seek to resolve the issue through diplomacy and intensified contacts with the Iraqi Kurds, whom it had long snubbed.
Iraqi Kurds are now included in the three-way talks and Zebari on Friday hailed the dialogue as “a new climate of understanding and cooperation.”
Babacan also acknowledged “a more positive atmosphere” between Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds, but added that “steps producing concrete results [against the PKK] should become more frequent on the ground.”
He stressed that “ending the activities of this organization is a must for the full normalization of Turkish-Iraqi relations.”
Since December 2007 Turkish warplanes have bombed PKK hideouts in the region under a parliamentary authorization, which expires in October.
The PKK took up arms for self-rule in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 44,000 lives.
Zebari was to wrap up his visit today after a trip to Istanbul.
He and Babacan, along with other ministers, will meet again late next month or early March in Istanbul to discuss cooperation in various realms such as security, trade and transport, a Turkish diplomat said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS