PKK

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Steven A. Cook, CFR fellow and expert on political reform in the Arab world, says relations between the United States and Turkey are strained due to conflicting interests in Iraqi Kurdistan. Washington does not want to upset the relative stability in northern Iraq, whereas Turkey seeks to remove the threat of Kurdish militants in the region.

http://www.cfr.org/turkey/cook-friction-us-turkey-relations-over-iraqi-kurdistan/p11378

Cook: Friction in U.S.-Turkey Relations over Iraqi Kurdistan - C

The problem from the U.S. perspective is that northern Iraq remains relatively stable. We need the Kurds for our broader political project in Iraq, and it would be foolhardy from a military perspective for the United States to go after the PKK and destabilize the one region where people really aren't shooting at Americans. by alcide Jun 20

The United States recently said it would send an envoy, General Joseph W. Ralston, to northern Iraq to address Turkey's national security problem. Was that a wise move? That has to do with the conflict with the PKK, which is a Marxist terrorist organization. The United States has been out in front of this issue. It has stood with Turkey on this issue about the PKK for a long time. by alcide Jun 20

The group, which has Marxist-Leninist roots, was formed in the late 1970s and launched an armed struggle against the Turkish government in 1984, calling for an independent Kurdish state within Turkey. Since then, more than 37,000 people have died. During the conflict, which reached a peak in the mid-1990s, thousands of villages were destroyed in the largely Kurdish south-east and east of Turkey, and hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled to cities in other parts of the country. In the 1990s, the organisation rolled back on its demands for an independent Kurdish state, calling instead for more autonomy for the Kurds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7044760.stm

BBC NEWS | Europe | Profile: The PKK

Inside the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) - Council on Foreign Re

http://www.cfr.org/turkey/inside-kurdistan-workers-party-pkk/p14576

Introduction Tensions on the border between Turkey and Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq have reached a fever pitch. Turkey’s parliament voted in October 2007 to authorize military force inside Iraq, capping months of frustration over escalating violence and Iraq’s inability to reign in the Kurdistan Workers Party. Known as the PKK after its Kurdish name, Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan , the group is labeled a terrorist organization by Washington, and continues to conduct strikes inside Turkey. Recent attacks on Turkish soldiers, and new vows to target politicians and police, have further infuriated Ankara. Yet the group, which formed decades ago to win an independent Kurdish state, has been greatly diminished in more than thirty years of resistance.

http://www.bitterlemons-international.org/previous.php?opt=1&id=224#917

Turkey has a new strategy in its war against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terror. This new strategy is based on three principles: domestic peace, regional legitimacy and coordination with the United States and the European Union. This conceptualization guides Turkish policy to follow a new course at domestic, regional and international levels and has implications for relations with the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq and the Iraqi state. An analysis of the strategy will help in understanding the future course of Turkish foreign policy toward Iraq.

Toward a new era in Turkish-Iraqi relations regarding the PKK Ab

". Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinezhad's latest proposal, made at the summit of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference in Senegal's capital Dakar on March 13, 2008, according to which Iran, Turkey and Iraq should work together to defeat the PKK terrorists while respecting each other's territorial integrity, has already made inroads in Turkey. " by alcide Jun 20

With all the attention in Iraq over the last five years focused on the fate of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the conflict between Sunni and Shi’ite, the role of Iran, the security of Anbar province, the “surge” and, most recently, the further deterioration of Basra, the situation in northern Iraq has only received sporadic attention. The conventional view has been that the predominantly Kurdish north has been the one relatively stable part of Iraq since the beginning of “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and thus was a good story. Unlike other parts of the country, the invasion left the north relatively unscathed and what became known as the Kurdish Regional Government enjoyed a 12-year head start in building government institutions. In the immediate post-Saddam period, the KRG was able to deliver services and, importantly, security to the area.

http://www.cfr.org/turkey/turkeys-problematic-middle-east-role/p16057

Turkey's Problematic Middle East Role - Council on Foreign Relat

"There is some sympathy for the plight of Kurds in the Arab world, but only so far as it does not undermine Iraqi unity." by alcide Jun 20

PKK attacks: Turkey's leader vows to ‘annihilate’ Kurdish rebels

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey will not stop until the PKK is “annihilated” after the Kurdish rebel group killed 12 Turkish soldiers over the weekend. The PKK attacks in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeastern region come amid an escalation of violence after the perceived failure of the government’s attempt to solve the Kurdish problem politically, with a reform initiative to give Kurds more political and cultural rights. Fighters from the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK) on Saturday attacked a Turkish military outpost near the border with Iraq , killing nine soldiers. The Turkish military responded with helicopter fire, reportedly killing 12 fighters.