Turkish Incursion to Be “Confronted” – Iraqi Kurdish Official

The acting minister of peshmerga [Kurdish forces] affairs in the Kurdistan regional government has said that a Turkish incursion into the Kurdistan Region “will be confronted” by the Iraqi and Kurdish forces, Sbay media website reported on 9 October. The statement came after Turkey gave the go-ahead to a possible cross-border operation.

The acting minister, Jabbar Yawar, who is also the spokesman for the Kurdish Protection Forces, told the website: “The PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] attacks on the Turkish army is no excuse for carrying out a cross-border military operation into the Kurdistan Region, under the pretext of chasing the PKK guerrillas – nobody knows where they are based. The PKK has no political or administrative link with Iraqi Kurdistan Region.”

He said: “If Turkish troops were to violate the border of the Kurdistan Region – though I cannot fathom why Turkey would lead itself into such a whirlpool – it will then be the Iraqi army’s duty to confront such a force, since the Kurdistan Region is part of Iraq. The Iraqi army will be backed by the Kurdistan peshmerga force and all the security forces, in order to protect the security they have established over the years.”

He added: “We, the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, will endeavour at all levels not to let our border be used for threats against the security of any neighbouring country.”

The website also reported the spokesman for the Iraqi government, Ali Dabbagh, as saying: “The best solution for the PKK issue is Turkey’s and Iraq’s commitment to the signed security agreement between the two. The agreement is a framework on the basis of which Turkey and Iraq can protect their security.”

Originally published by Sbay media website, in Sorani Kurdish 9 Oct 07.

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