"After 2003, when anarchy reigned in Iraq, this terror organization, the Kurdistan Workers` Party has started gaining power again. Kurdish terrorists started striking the Turkish territory again," Turkey?s Ambassador to Russia Kurtulus Taskent said at a news conference in Moscow.
"We have had a number of meetings with the Iraqi leadership in order to halt the terror activity. In late September 2007, we signed an agreement with the Iraqi government on coordinating our activity against terrorists. But, unfortunately, neither the USA nor Iraq managed to hamper activity of Kurdish terrorists. Within last month we have lost about 40 our citizens in fighting with terrorists form the PKK," the ambassador said.
"As a result, the Turkish parliament issued a resolution for a year allowing crossing the Iraqi border in order to fight the PKK. Time limits of the operation will be defined depending on the situation. After completing the operation, our troops will go back to Turkey. It is in no way occupation or seizure of territories," the Turkish ambassador stressed.
"Our operation is held in the frameworks of the international law, Turkey is a defensive party here," Kurtulus Taskent believes. "The Russian law does envisage combating terrorism too, even if terror groups are outside the country?s territory. I emphasize, the operation is directed against terrorists. The question of the territorial integrity and state structure will be settled by Iraq on its own."
"Turkey is a law-based state and all constitutional rights of Turkish citizens of Kurdish origin are being observed strictly," the ambassador noted.
As Kurtulus Taskent thinks, "Turkey?s military operation in the Iraqi Kurdistan does not destabilize the situation in the region on the whole, as it was a pinpoint attack aimed against terrorists."
Territorial integrity must be determining in settlement of "frozen conflicts"
"As for frozen conflicts, Turkey is a proponent of diplomatic ways of settling them," Turkey?s Ambassador to Russia Kurtulus Taskent announced at a news conference in Moscow.
"We believe that the principle of territorial integrity and inviolability of frontiers must be determining in the settlement," the Turkish ambassador said.
US approach to terrorism is a policy of double standards
"US position regarding the situation in North Iraq actually encourages activity of Kurdish terrorists," Kurtulus Taskent said.
"The United States call terrorists those whom they like to call terrorists. Meanwhile, when other countries face manifestations of terrorism, like Russia or Turkey in case with Kurdish terrorists, the US position is not so unambiguous and is usually measured by the US political situation, which is a double-standard policy from the US side".
sections: Politics |