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TURKISH PRIME MINISTER WARNS US: WE WILL ATTACK KURDISH REBELS IN IRAQ
The Times
October 22, 2007
Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells The Times that he needs nobody's permission
to defend his country
Martin Fletcher and Suna Erdem Read The Times interview with the
Turkish Prime Minister in full
Turkey will launch military action against Kurdish rebels in northern
Iraq despite frantic appeals for restraint from America and Nato,
its Prime Minister has told The Times.
Speaking hours before the PKK, the Kurdish Workers' Party, killed at
least 17 more Turkish soldiers yesterday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
that Turkey had urged the US and Iraqi governments repeatedly to
expel the separatists but they had done nothing. Turkey's patience
was running out and the country had every right to defend itself,
he said. "Whatever is necessary will be done," he declared in an
interview. "We don't have to get permission from anybody."
Mr Erdogan, who begins a two-day visit to Britain today, also offered
a bleak assessment of relations between the US and Turkey, a country
of huge strategic importance to Washington. He said that a "serious
wave of antiAmericanism" was sweeping Turkey, called America's war in
Iraq a failure, and served warning that if the US Congress approved a
Bill accusing the Ottoman Turks of genocide against Armenians during
the First World War, the US "might lose a very important friend".
The sombre and unsmiling Prime Minister was only a little less critical
of the European Union, accusing some members of reneging on their
promises to admit Turkey and claiming that the EU had inflicted a
"big injustice" on his country over Cyprus.
Mr Erdogan's belligerence will cause alarm in Washington and London,
and was probably designed to do so. One aide said that he was engaging
in "open diplomacy". The Kurdish regional government, which has a force
of about 100,000 men, has promised to resist any incursions. The PKK
is threatening to destroy pipelines carrying Iraqi oil to Turkey, and
the only peaceful region of Iraq could easily be plunged into chaos.
A Turkish attack on PKK bases in northern Iraq would also cause a
serious breach with Washington. Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country
of 75 million people, has Nato's second-largest army, is a key ally
in America's "war on terror" and provides a vital supply route for
US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Late last night Mr Erdogan said that Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary
of State, had asked Turkey to delay any action for a few days. He
told Dr Rice he expected "speedy action" from the US.
But in his interview with The Times Mr Erdogan was in no mood to heed
Western appeals for restraint. The PKK was hiding behind the US and
Iraqi governments, he complained. It was using American weapons. "We
have told President Bush numerous times how sensitive we are about
this issue but have not had a single positive result."
The targets were not innocent civilians or Iraq's territorial integrity
but a terrorist organisation that regularly attacked Turkish targets,
he said. "If a neighbouring country is providing a safe haven for
terrorism . . . we have rights under international law and we will
use those rights and we don't have to get permission from anybody."
Military action could be avoided only if the Americans and Iraqis
expelled the PKK, closed its camps and handed over its leaders,
he said.
Mr Erdogan said that last week's parliamentary vote authorising
military action showed that Turkey's patience was exhausted. He would
not be drawn on the scale or timing of any operation, but Turkey
is thought to have more than 60,000 soldiers massed along the Iraq
border. Other Turkish officials said that the PKK had six training
camps and 3,500 fighters in the mountains of northern Iraq.
Mr Erdogan also rebukedThe Times for publishing an interview last
week with Murat Karayilan, a PKK leader in northern Iraq. He said that
the newspaper had allowed itself to be "used as a propaganda tool".
Mr Erdogan will speak in Oxford tonight and meet Gordon Brown
tomorrow. He is likely to rebuke the US on several counts. He said
that the war in Iraq had fuelled Turkish hostility towards the
US. "There's no success that I can see," he said. "There's only the
deaths of tens of thousands of people. There's just an Iraq whose
entire infrastructure and superstructure has collapsed."
He accused the Democrat-controlled foreign affairs committee of "firing
a bullet" at US-Turkish relations by approving the "so-called Armenian
genocide Bill". "America might lose a very important friend," he said.
Mr Erdogan also had harsh words for some European countries. France,
Germany and Austria are openly opposed to Turkish membership of the
EU. He said that Britain had supported Turkey from the start, but
other states who agreed to open accession talks in 2005 were "not
standing by their word". He said that Turkey was "far more advanced"
than the most recent entrants from Central Europe.
He identified Cyprus as the main obstacle, and said that the EU
perpetrated a "big injustice towards Turkey and the [Turkish] northern
Cypriots". In a referendum in 2004 Turkish Cypriots approved a UN
plan to reunite the island whereas the Greek Cypriots rejected it. He
protested that the Greek Cypriots were rewarded for their obstinacy
with EU membership while the Turks were punished.
The interview took place in an office with a spectacular view
towards Asia.
Despite his criticism Mr Erdogan insisted that Turkey had decided
irrevocably to throw in its lot with the West, and not with Russia
and the East.
The Times
October 22, 2007
Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells The Times that he needs nobody's permission
to defend his country
Martin Fletcher and Suna Erdem Read The Times interview with the
Turkish Prime Minister in full
Turkey will launch military action against Kurdish rebels in northern
Iraq despite frantic appeals for restraint from America and Nato,
its Prime Minister has told The Times.
Speaking hours before the PKK, the Kurdish Workers' Party, killed at
least 17 more Turkish soldiers yesterday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
that Turkey had urged the US and Iraqi governments repeatedly to
expel the separatists but they had done nothing. Turkey's patience
was running out and the country had every right to defend itself,
he said. "Whatever is necessary will be done," he declared in an
interview. "We don't have to get permission from anybody."
Mr Erdogan, who begins a two-day visit to Britain today, also offered
a bleak assessment of relations between the US and Turkey, a country
of huge strategic importance to Washington. He said that a "serious
wave of antiAmericanism" was sweeping Turkey, called America's war in
Iraq a failure, and served warning that if the US Congress approved a
Bill accusing the Ottoman Turks of genocide against Armenians during
the First World War, the US "might lose a very important friend".
The sombre and unsmiling Prime Minister was only a little less critical
of the European Union, accusing some members of reneging on their
promises to admit Turkey and claiming that the EU had inflicted a
"big injustice" on his country over Cyprus.
Mr Erdogan's belligerence will cause alarm in Washington and London,
and was probably designed to do so. One aide said that he was engaging
in "open diplomacy". The Kurdish regional government, which has a force
of about 100,000 men, has promised to resist any incursions. The PKK
is threatening to destroy pipelines carrying Iraqi oil to Turkey, and
the only peaceful region of Iraq could easily be plunged into chaos.
A Turkish attack on PKK bases in northern Iraq would also cause a
serious breach with Washington. Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country
of 75 million people, has Nato's second-largest army, is a key ally
in America's "war on terror" and provides a vital supply route for
US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Late last night Mr Erdogan said that Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary
of State, had asked Turkey to delay any action for a few days. He
told Dr Rice he expected "speedy action" from the US.
But in his interview with The Times Mr Erdogan was in no mood to heed
Western appeals for restraint. The PKK was hiding behind the US and
Iraqi governments, he complained. It was using American weapons. "We
have told President Bush numerous times how sensitive we are about
this issue but have not had a single positive result."
The targets were not innocent civilians or Iraq's territorial integrity
but a terrorist organisation that regularly attacked Turkish targets,
he said. "If a neighbouring country is providing a safe haven for
terrorism . . . we have rights under international law and we will
use those rights and we don't have to get permission from anybody."
Military action could be avoided only if the Americans and Iraqis
expelled the PKK, closed its camps and handed over its leaders,
he said.
Mr Erdogan said that last week's parliamentary vote authorising
military action showed that Turkey's patience was exhausted. He would
not be drawn on the scale or timing of any operation, but Turkey
is thought to have more than 60,000 soldiers massed along the Iraq
border. Other Turkish officials said that the PKK had six training
camps and 3,500 fighters in the mountains of northern Iraq.
Mr Erdogan also rebukedThe Times for publishing an interview last
week with Murat Karayilan, a PKK leader in northern Iraq. He said that
the newspaper had allowed itself to be "used as a propaganda tool".
Mr Erdogan will speak in Oxford tonight and meet Gordon Brown
tomorrow. He is likely to rebuke the US on several counts. He said
that the war in Iraq had fuelled Turkish hostility towards the
US. "There's no success that I can see," he said. "There's only the
deaths of tens of thousands of people. There's just an Iraq whose
entire infrastructure and superstructure has collapsed."
He accused the Democrat-controlled foreign affairs committee of "firing
a bullet" at US-Turkish relations by approving the "so-called Armenian
genocide Bill". "America might lose a very important friend," he said.
Mr Erdogan also had harsh words for some European countries. France,
Germany and Austria are openly opposed to Turkish membership of the
EU. He said that Britain had supported Turkey from the start, but
other states who agreed to open accession talks in 2005 were "not
standing by their word". He said that Turkey was "far more advanced"
than the most recent entrants from Central Europe.
He identified Cyprus as the main obstacle, and said that the EU
perpetrated a "big injustice towards Turkey and the [Turkish] northern
Cypriots". In a referendum in 2004 Turkish Cypriots approved a UN
plan to reunite the island whereas the Greek Cypriots rejected it. He
protested that the Greek Cypriots were rewarded for their obstinacy
with EU membership while the Turks were punished.
The interview took place in an office with a spectacular view
towards Asia.
Despite his criticism Mr Erdogan insisted that Turkey had decided
irrevocably to throw in its lot with the West, and not with Russia
and the East.