Posted on 01/21/2004 4:38:23 PM PST by blam
Turkish Leader Warns of Kurd Role in Iraq
Wednesday January 21, 2004 11:31 PM
By LOUIS MEIXLER
Associated Press Writer
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Kurdish control of an autonomous area in a future Iraqi state would threaten the stability of the country, a view shared by northern Iraq's neighbors, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.
Erdogan, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, said he will raise those concerns when he meets President Bush at the White House on Wednesday.
Turkish leaders have repeatedly said they fear that expanding Kurdish self-rule in northern Iraq could lead to the country breaking apart and could threaten the stability of Iraq's neighbors, which has sizable Kurdish minorities.
``Let me be open and very frank with you,'' Erdogan said. ``Any federal system based on ethnicity is not going to be healthy and will damage the future of Iraq.''
``This is the idea that is emerging in countries like Iran and Syria as well,'' Erdogan added.
Kurds are demanding autonomy in northern Iraq within a unified state and are asking for control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a step that Turkish leaders have said is intolerable.
The Kurds, who make up abut 20 percent of Iraq's population, now have a semiautonomous status which they enjoyed under U.S.-British air protection after the 1991 Gulf War. The number of Kurds in Iraq has been estimated at 2 million to 5 million people.
Turkish leaders have been meeting with the heads of Syria and Iran - northern Iraq's other neighbors - in recent weeks and all have expressed reservations over Kurdish aspirations.
``I believe the United States will do whatever is needed to be done to ensure stability and a fair and just structure to be formed in Iraq,'' Erdogan added.
When asked about Kirkuk he said that ``all resources of Iraq should belong to all people of Iraq.''
The soft tone contrasts with recent harsh statements by Turkish officials.
Turkish deputy chief of staff Gen. Ilker Basbug warned Friday that ``Iraq's future might be very bloody if there was a federal structure.''
The mild words come amid Turkey's strong desire to repair relations with the United States that have been strained by the Iraq conflict.
Turkey refused to allow in U.S. troops for the Iraq war, alienating itself from its most important ally.
Earlier this month, Turkey began allowing the United States use a Turkish air base to rotate troops for Iraq.
The mild words may also reflect the fact there is little that Turkey can do to push the United States to moderate Kurdish demands.
Northern Iraq is one of the few stable areas of the country and Washington is keen not to undermine that stability. U.S. leaders, however, have repeatedly said they will not accept a Kurdish state in northern Iraq, meeting Turkey's key demand.
``Turkey is not in a position to play a strong card in Iraq,'' said Ilnur Cevik, editor in chief of the Turkish Daily News. ``Bush needs the Kurds.''
Turkey has a sizable Kurdish population. A 15-year insurgency by Kurdish rebels in Turkey ended in 1999, but the rebels now have bases in northern Iraq and the potential to resume fighting. Turkey fears that Kurds living in an autonomous area of northern Iraq could declare independence and rekindle the insurgency in Turkey. The Kurds had their own country briefly after World War I.
Erdogan last visited the White House on Dec. 10, a little more than a month after his party won a massive majority in Turkish elections. Erdogan, however, was barred from running in those elections due to a conviction for reciting a poem in public that the courts said challenged Turkish secularism. He later won a seat in parliament and in March became prime minister.
On another matter, Erdogan also said Turkey will work until the ``last second'' to meet a May 1 deadline for reuniting the divided island of Cyprus. That's the date that Cyprus is to join the European Union.
If no agreement is reached to reunite the island before that deadline, EU benefits would only apply to the Greek Cypriot south, and not to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north.
Although not a condition to start talks, Erdogan said he shared the view that a solution to the division of Cyprus would also help Turkey's entry into the EU.
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