Regional conference to focus on Iraq
Thursday, 1 November 2007
BAGHDAD, Oct 31 (AP): The Iraqi foreign minister said Wednesday that this weekend's regional conference in Istanbul must focus only on Iraq's security and stability, not the border crisis over Turkey's threatened incursion against Kurdish rebels.
The high-level meeting Saturday will be a follow-up to a May meeting in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt. Iraq's neighbours, among other things, promised to stop foreign militants from joining Iraq's insurgency, a pledge that the United States says has not been met.
But it comes as Turkey has threatened military action against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, who have been staging cross-border hit-and-run attacks into Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq as they seek to create an autonomous Kurdish state in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast.
Turkey also is considering a series of economic sanctions that could affect the self-governing Kurdish administration in Iraq's north.
"This meeting is very important and should not be hijacked by the current tension and crisis over the PKK terrorist activities in Turkey," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in a joint news conference after meeting with his visiting Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki.
He also warned a Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq would have "serious consequences for the entire region and could undermine its stability." He renewed the Iraqi government readiness "to cooperate actively with the Turkish government to find practical measures" to prevent the Kurdish rebels from working from Iraqi territories to hurt Turkey and its interests.
"Practical measures and steps should be taken to achieve stability and security in Iraq and its unity should be maintained," Mottaki said.
The high-level meeting Saturday will be a follow-up to a May meeting in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt. Iraq's neighbours, among other things, promised to stop foreign militants from joining Iraq's insurgency, a pledge that the United States says has not been met.
But it comes as Turkey has threatened military action against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, who have been staging cross-border hit-and-run attacks into Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq as they seek to create an autonomous Kurdish state in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast.
Turkey also is considering a series of economic sanctions that could affect the self-governing Kurdish administration in Iraq's north.
"This meeting is very important and should not be hijacked by the current tension and crisis over the PKK terrorist activities in Turkey," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in a joint news conference after meeting with his visiting Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki.
He also warned a Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq would have "serious consequences for the entire region and could undermine its stability." He renewed the Iraqi government readiness "to cooperate actively with the Turkish government to find practical measures" to prevent the Kurdish rebels from working from Iraqi territories to hurt Turkey and its interests.
"Practical measures and steps should be taken to achieve stability and security in Iraq and its unity should be maintained," Mottaki said.