TURKEY: TURKISH PM WARNS KURDS IN NORTHERN IRAQ NOT TO ATTEMPT TO FORM INDEPENDENT STATE.

Record ID: 208428

  • Title: TURKEY: TURKISH PM WARNS KURDS IN NORTHERN IRAQ NOT TO ATTEMPT TO FORM INDEPENDENT STATE.
  • Date: 6th October 2002
  • Summary: (W6) ANKARA, TURKEY (OCTOBER 5, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TV/PAN: TURKISH PRIME MINISTER BULENT ECEVIT ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE, SURROUNDED BY AIDES 0.11 2. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) ECEVIT SAYING: "We much more clearly see the aim of opening a Kurdish parliament in Northern Iraq in the forthcoming weeks. We will never allow it (the parliament) to give the image of the parliament of a state." 0.32 3. GV: VARIOUS OF THE PRESSER 0.37 4. MCU: (SOUNDIBTE) (Turkish) ECEVIT SAYING: "I don't want to talk about this hypothesis, but the establishment of an independent state right next to our border is not something we can accept. But we will announce the measures that we may have to take on this clearly when the time comes" 1.00 5. GV/ZOOM IN: WIDE OF ECEVIT TALKING 1.21 6. MCU: (SOUNDIBTE) (Turkish) ECEVIT SAYING: "We frequently repeat our opinion that we are opposed to any kind of military operation in our region and we point out that we have to behave with great care. So, there is no need to add anything at this point. Whether it is Iraq or another issue, we do not want a military operation in our region." 1.27 7. GV: WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE 1.32 8. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) ECEVIT SAYING: "I don't know what the aim of sending such a message was, but if it was to set up a separate state, we would not welcome it, or see it as a friendly gesture. But I doubt it had that aim." 1.55 9. GV: ECEVIT AT NEWS CONFERENCE 2.00 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 21st October 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ANKARA, TURKEY
  • Country: Turkey
  • Reuters ID: LVA4KSUBOP2UK87OO5YO46YSM0PV
  • Story Text: Turkey warned Iraq's Kurds on Saturday not to use U.S.

    support for their newly-reopened regional parliament as a
    licence to declare a separate state.



    Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit of Turkey, a NATO
    member with
    troops already based inside northern Iraq, said his country
    was watching closely for signs the Kurds want to separate from
    Iraq.

    The Kurds reopened their parliament on Friday (October 4),
    aiming to put years of feuding behind them and stake a claim
    for autonomy, if the United States ousts Iraqi President
    Saddam Hussein.

    Speaking in Ankara on Saturday (October 5), Ecevit told
    reporters:
    "We will never allow it (the parliament) to give the image
    of the parliament of a state."
    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell sent a message of
    support to the parliament on Friday. The U.S. has protected
    the Kurds of northern Iraq with air patrols based in Turkey
    since they broke off from Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War.

    It has also devoted years of diplomacy to overcoming
    internal Kurdish fighting and making the rugged enclave a
    united bulwark against the Iraqi government.

    Ecevit said Powell's message should not be seen as U.S.

    approval of a separate Kurdish state.

    "I don't know what the aim of sending such a message was.

    But, if it was to set up a separate state, we would not
    welcome it, or see it as a friendly gesture, but I doubt it
    had that aim," he said.

    The two Kurdish parties that run the region have set out
    their idea of a draft constitution for a post-Saddam Iraq that
    sees their area having wide autonomy under a federal system.

    They also envisage the oil-rich city of Kirkuk --
    currently run by the Iraqi government -- as the capital of
    their region.

    Ecevit said such moves alarmed Turkey, which fears the
    assembly wants to be, not the parliament of a local authority,
    but the parliament of a state.

    "We are continually watching. If it goes further down that
    road, Turkey will take the necessary measures," he said.

    Ecevit also repeated Turkey's fears of a military
    operation in the region and reiterated his country's
    opposition to it.

    Kurds live in a swathe of territory crossing Turkey,
    Syria, Iraq and Iran and have never had their own state.

    Uprisings in the countries where they live have often ended in
    bloodshed and failure.

    Turkey, a close U.S. ally, sees a separate Kurdish state
    as a disaster that would threaten its borders and encourage
    its own estimated 12 million Kurds to make a similar bid.

    "The establishment of an independent state right next to
    our border is not something we can accept, but we will
    announce the measures that we may have to take on this clearly
    when the time comes," Ecevit said.

    Turkey has fought against separatist Kurdish rebels since
    1984 in a conflict in which more than 30,000 people, most of
    them guerrillas, have died.

    The Turkish military already garrisons troops inside
    northern Iraq, mainly to crack down on the rebels that use the
    region as a base.

    (lh/os)

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