Turkish Interior minister in Baghdad over PKK talks

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Turkish Interior Minister Besir Atalay today will arrive in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to take part in a tripartite meeting over the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). “Atalay headed today to Baghdad, where he will participate in a meeting on countering Kurdish insurgents in Turkey,” the Turkish Anadolu agency said. In November 2008, Iraqi, Turkish and U.S. officials formed a joint committee to combat “terrorism.” During a visit by Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Baghdad last month, Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani urged PKK fighters to lay down arms or to leave Iraq. The party rejected these calls, saying “no one can expel us from the mountains.” The PKK is considered a “terrorist” organization by both Ankara and the U.S. The party demanded Turkey’s recognition of the Kurds’ identity in its constitution and of their language as a native language along with Turkish in the country’s Kurdish areas. The party also demanded an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and constitution against Kurds, granting them full political freedoms. Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish language and private Kurdish language courses with the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish politicians say the measures fall short of their expectations. The PKK, or Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan in Kurdish, which is banned in Turkey, has been leading an armed campaign inside Turkey since 1984. Iraqi border areas in the Kurdistan region, adjacent to Turkey and Iran, are coming under occasional Turkish air attacks and Iranian artillery shelling allegedly to strike the strongholds of the PKK and the PJAK (Partiya Jiyana Azada Kurdistanê in Kurdish or Kurdistan Free Life Party), both are against Turkey and Iran respectively. SS (S) 1