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Turkish PM urges Kurdish rebels to surrender and benefit from amnesty |
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Written by International Herald Tribune
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Saturday, 08 December 2007 |
The Turkish prime minister urged separatist Kurdish rebels on Friday to surrender to security forces and benefit from an existing amnesty for those who voluntarily leave the guerrilla group.
Turkey has massed thousands troops on its rugged border with Iraq for a possible cross-border offensives against the rebels, who have been launching attacks from bases in northern Iraq. Turkish troops are also fighting rebels inside Turkey in areas near the border.
Turkish army helicopters in recent weeks have dropped thousands of leaflets on mountain paths used by the rebels of the Kurdish Workers' Party, or PKK, to infiltrate Turkey. The leaflets tell of the amnesty and urge rebels to leave the PKK.
"We are telling (rebels) who are on the mountains and have not engaged in bloody terrorist acts: 'go back to your mother and father,'" Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an address to members of his ruling party.
The amnesty pardons rebels who leave the PKK voluntarily and who have not been engaged in fighting. Rebel leaders who share critical information about the group also qualify for the amnesty.
The amnesty program has existed for 17 years, but has failed to lure most rebels into giving up.
"The terrorist organization does not represent my ethnic Kurdish citizens," Erdogan said. "The terrorist group has not shown anything to my citizens except for blood and tears."
Speaking to reporters later, Erdogan said: "those who have never meddled (in terrorist acts), those who were exploited, are a loss for this country and for my Kurdish citizens. We want to prevent such loss. We hope that we will achieve positive results."
The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in the predominantly Kurdish southeast since 1984, when it launched its first attack on a military outpost.
The government has been under intense domestic pressure to cross into northern Iraq to attack rebel bases after a spate of attacks that killed 50 people, most of them soldiers.
Last week, the military said it fired on a group of about 50 to 60 PKK guerrillas inside Iraqi territory, inflicting "significant losses." It did not say whether Turkish troops had crossed into Iraq for the operation. Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said later the military operation involved only air force strikes — not land forces.
The United States and Iraq have pressured Turkey to avoid a large-scale attack on rebel bases in northern Iraq, fearing such an operation would destabilize what has been the calmest region in the country.
Washington has agreed to share intelligence about rebel positions in the region. And the Iraqi Kurdish administration in northern Iraq has promised to prevent the rebels from attacking Turkey. |
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