PKK offers Turkey conditional ceasefire....

[JMS]

Kurdish Rebels Offer Turkey Conditional Ceasefire (Mohammed, AFP)

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

AFP

By Shwan Mohammed

Kurdish rebels offered Ankara a ceasefire on Monday, on condition that the Turkish military abandons plans for a incursion into Iraq and ends attacks against the separatist group.

The move, designed to stave off Turkish threats to strike their bases in the mountains of northern Iraq, came as the White House urged Iraq to do more to stop the rebels from using its territory to attack Turkish troops.

"We are ready for a ceasefire if the Turkish army stops attacking our positions, drops plans for an incursion and resort to peace," said a statement posted on a website run by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch a military drive into northern Iraq unless Baghdad clamps down on the rebels and turns over the PKK leaders it accuses of masterminding cross-border attacks.

"We are calling for a peaceful solution and distancing ourselves from violence," said the rebel statement.

"If Turkey stops attacking us, the battle will stop and we will start the peace action. We are ready to start dialogue and we are ready to join the political process if Turkey give us the chance," it said.

The statement from the PKK, blacklisted as a terror group by both Ankara and the West, noted that past ceasefire offers had been ignored by the Turkish army.

The declaration was preceded by Iraq President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, telling reporters a ceasefire offer would be forthcoming.

It came after Turkey confirmed eight soldiers were missing after weekend clashes with the PKK near the Iraqi border killed at least 12 Turkish troops, ramping up public pressure on the government to take action.

Amid rising tensions, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan assured an alarmed international community that Ankara would exhaust diplomatic efforts before resorting to military action.

"We will continue to exert these diplomatic and political efforts with good intention to resolve this crisis caused by a terrorist organisation," Babacan told reporters after talks in Kuwait.

"But in the end, if we don't reach a result, there are other means that we may be forced to use."

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he was expecting Babacan in Baghdad for crisis talks on Tuesday.

However, Babacan would not immediately confirm the visit.

"I have had an intention to visit Baghdad for some time. But I do not confirm at the moment whether this visit will take place or when it will take place," Babacan said on his return from Kuwait.

The United States has urged Erdogan to hold off on military action, but the prospect of Turkish soldiers being held captive is likely to turn up the heat on the government.

Washington strongly opposes any unilateral Turkish military action, fearing it would further destabilise the situation in Iraq.

On Sunday, Erdogan said he spoke to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who appealed for patience, asking for a "a few days" pause.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto urged the Iraqi government to do more, and quickly, to oust the PKK from safe havens in northern Iraq.

"We want the Iraqi government to take swift action to stop the activity of the PKK. We're communicating with the Turkish leadership, with the Kurdish leadership and the Iraqi leadership," said Fratto.

He said the United States was prepared to share intelligence with the Turkish government to fight ethnic Kurdish rebels, but that Washington did not want to see "wider military action" on the border.

Iraqi ministers told a crisis session of parliament that the government refused to send troops in hot pursuit of the rebels but vowed to cut supplies to the PKK.

Defence Minister Abdel Qader al-Obeidi told lawmakers Iraq had "no intention" of redeploying troops from elsewhere in the war-torn country for such a mission, according to top government aide Sami al-Askari.

Obeidi appeared to put the onus on the US military to take action by saying that security in Iraq was the responsibility of US-led forces who have been in the country since the March 2003 invasion.

Last week, Turkey's parliament authorised the government to send troops across the Iraqi border at any time it sees fit, amid Turkish anger over a perceived US and Iraqi failure to stamp out the PKK bases.

The Turkish army general staff said eight soldiers were missing following the weekend clashes.

"Despite all searches, contact has not been established with eight staff with whom contact was lost," it said in a statement.

The PKK has given the names of all eight soldiers it claims to be holding.

The ambush triggered street protests in Turkey, as well as media and opposition calls for Erdogan to order an immediate military incursion against PKK rebels hiding out in the mountains across the Iraqi border.

Turks took to the streets for the second day running on Monday, with some 3,000 flag-waving demonstrators in Istanbul shouting anti-PKK slogans and criticising Erdogan for hesitating over a military strike.

Ankara says some 3,500 PKK fighters are based in northern Iraq where they are able to obtain weapons and are supported by Iraqi Kurdish leaders, a charge the Iraqi Kurdish administration strongly denies.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up arms fighting for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.