- Title: TURKEY: ARMITAGE MEETS TURKISH LEADERS IN ANKARA.
- Date: 3rd January 2005
- Summary: (W5) ANKARA,TURKEY (JANUARY 3, 2005) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/PAN: TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER ABDULLAH GUL ENTERING FOREIGN MINISTERY BUILDING 0.13 2. GV/PAN: US DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE, RICHARD LEE ARMITAGE ENTERING FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 0.23 3. MV/CU/PAN: ARMITAGE MEETING WITH TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER ABDULLAH GUL (5 SHOTS) 0.51 4. MV/PAN: ARMITAGE LEAVING BUILDING 0.57 5. CU: PHOTOGRAPHERS 1.03 6. GV/MV: ARMITAGE SPEAKING TO MEDIA; JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES (2 SHOTS) 1.15 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English), US DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE, RICHARD LEE ARMITAGE SAYING: "Well the question of the PKK came up, some of my colleagues were meeting with others in the foreign ministry and we're going to have, we hope in the near future a trialateral meeting here in Ankara to discuss the whole question of the PKK." 1.31 8. MV: MEDIA LISTENING 1.34 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English), ARMITAGE, SAYING: "There have been many segments of Iraqi society who have been...had their situation changed by forced demographics. The Turkmen of course are in this category, and the Kurds themselves have been forced out of particularly Kirkuk to some degree. These are things that have to be corrected and in the transitional administrative law there are provisions, I think it's article 58 which speaks to the need to re-dress these wrongs, for all those who are dispossessed." 2.09 10. GV: ARMITAGE MEETING WITH CHAIRMAN OF TURKISH PARLIAMENT, BULENT ARINC; ARMITAGE SEATED (2 SHOTS) 2.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 18th January 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ANKARA, TURKEY
- Country: Turkey
- Reuters ID: LVA829BRMZL4JFSDFF16Q0NZB7UD
- Story Text: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage on
his offical visit to Turkey.
The United States proposed talks with NATO ally
Turkey and Baghdad on Monday (January 3) to work out how to
tackle Turkish Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq and
reassure Ankara on developments in that region.
"We are going to have, we hope in the near future, a
trilateral meeting here in Ankara to discuss the whole
question of the PKK (rebels)," Deputy Secretary of State
Richard Armitage told reporters after talks with Turkish
officials.
An estimated 5,000 members of the banned Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK), Turkish Kurds who want an independent
Kurdish state, are hiding in northern Iraq.
U.S. occupying forces, busy fighting an Iraqi
insurgency further south, have so far failed to crack down
on the PKK, despite Turkish appeals.
Armitage gave no details about the proposed conference,
but U.S. diplomats said it could take place later in
January and would bring together representatives from
Turkey, the United States and the Iraqi interim government.
Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than
30,000 people in southeast Turkey during an armed campaign
for a state the group launched in 1984.
The violence has dropped significantly since the 1999
capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, though clashes with
security forces still occur fairly frequently in eastern
Turkey.
Asked about demographic changes in the oil-rich
northern Iraqi town of Kirkuk, another sensitive issue for
Turkey, Armitage said new laws should help defuse tensions
there.
"These are things that have to be corrected and in the
transitional administrative law there are provisions, I think it's
article 58 which speaks to the need to re-dress
these wrongs, for all those who are dispossessed," he said.
Turkey believes Iraqi Kurds are trying to wrest control
of Kirkuk at the expense of local Arabs and
Turkish-speaking Turkmens and fears this could herald a
concerted drive to build an independent Kurdish state in
northern Iraq.
Armitage, the highest ranking U.S. official to visit
Turkey since US President George W. Bush attended a NATO
summit in Istanbul last June, is anxious to put U.S.-Turkey
relations back on track after a period of tension,
especially over Iraq.
The head of the Turkish parliament's human rights
commission recently infuriated Washington by branding U.S.
military action against Iraqi insurgents in Falluja as
"genocide".
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