Iraqi parliament discusses border crisis, delays response to Turkey

Oct 20, 2007, 13:19 GMT

Baghdad - Iraq's Council of Representatives refrained Saturday from issuing a warning against Turkey's plans to invade northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels, following rowdy debates between MPs on the border crisis.

According to Mahmoud al-Mashhadany, parliament speaker, the council will reconvene on Sunday to discuss ways of preventing a possible military incursion. An official statement will be issued then.

Last Wednesday, the Turkish parliament approved by a majority of votes a possible cross-border military operation into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels despite opposition from the United States, Iraq and the Kurdish government.

The resolution allows the government to order one or more cross- border operations to deal with an estimated 3,500 rebels from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) based in mountainous northern Iraq.

Many members of the Iraqi parliament have called on the body to reject this while others have called on the government to close down PKK camps in Iraq.

Mahmoud Othman, an outspoken MP, had told al-Sabah newspaper that Iraq's parliament will formally ask Ankara to reconsider its government's decision on Iraq.

'It is not in the interest of Iraq to host PKK elements after it has been classified as a terrorist group,' Ezzeldin al-Dawla, an Iraqi MP told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa shortly before Saturday's parliament session. Al-Dawla said that the Iraqi constitution forbids the presence of terrorist elements in its territory.

Al-Dawla said that the Iraqi parliament will stress Iraq's sovereignty, maintaining security and respecting its borders in the statement.

Al-Dawla reiterated Premier Nuri al-Maliki's remarks, who said that Iraq, is ready to 'seriously cooperate with Turkish forces in curbing PKK activities.'

Al-Maliki had earlier said that he does 'not accept military solutions as a mode of conduct between the two countries, we are aware and we understand the worries of our Turkish friends.'

His government expressed readiness to hold emergency talks with its Kurdish counterpart. But the Turkish government had reportedly postponed the visit until the governments of Arbil and Baghdad agree on the agenda for discussion in Ankara.

The self-governing Kurdish region and Baghdad's centralized government have reacted differently to Turkish warnings. Baghdad has encouraged dialogue while Arbil has threatened to retaliate with Peshmerga forces, if its territories are attacked.

The Kurds also rejected a security agreement signed earlier between Baghdad and Ankara.

Meanwhile, Iraq's Kurdish President Jalal Talabani told al-Sharq al-Awsat pan-Arab newspaper in statements published Saturday: 'We do not have enough forces to send to the Qandil mountains and oust PKK rebels.'

'We can only condemn (PKK's) acts,' said Talabani. Turkey's insistence on cross-border raids in Iraq came after an ambush on 13 Turkish commandos and two soldiers in Turkey by members of the rebel group.

Talabani has also slammed Syrian President Bashar Assad who came out in favour of Turkey's decision to send forces into northern Iraq during a recent visit. Talabani said Assad's position 'encroached all red lines.'

Assad should have shown understanding for Turkish concerns and encouraged political solutions rather than military ones, he said.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by both the US and the European Union, who called on Turkey to seek dialogue and negotiate a solution to the border issues.