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TURKEY: PKK ACCUSES DAVUTOGLU OF BACKING SYRIA REBELS
10:31 17.08.13
A leading member of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has
accused Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of being engaged
in efforts to aid armed groups in Syria that have been clashing
with Syria's Democratic Union Party (PYD), an offshoot of the PKK,
Today's Zaman reported, citing Taraf daily.
"I'm well informed that Mr. Davutoglu has been giving special attention
to these forces for more than a year," said Murat Karayılan, a member
of the executive council of the Kurdistan Communities' Union (KCK),
an umbrella group for the PKK, according to Taraf.
Syria's ethnic Kurdish minority, led by the PYD, gave signals about
a month ago that in the absence of a central government in war-torn
Syria it was planning to establish an autonomous administration to
cater to the needs of locals in the northern part of the country. Now,
some of the Islamist groups fighting the Syrian regime, such as the
al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, have turned their weapons against the
Kurds. Fighting between the PYD and the Islamist groups has continued
since then.
Karayilan, who is also the head of the PKK's armed wing, the People's
Defense Forces (HPG), said that the policy he attributed to Davutoglu
only makes sense if Kurds are seen as the enemy. He added that the
attacks on Kurds in northern Syria are part of a plan to stop Kurds
from getting stronger and obtaining power. The HPG, Karayılan said,
has been reorganized to respond to the new situation. Reports say the
HPG is now in a position to cooperate militarily with Peshmerga forces
under Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG) in northern Iraq, and to Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Iraq's Kurdish president. Karayılan
said the PKK is preparing to establish a professional army.
PYD head Saleh Muslim, who has been to Turkey twice recently, has said
that weapons and ammunition continue to be transferred from Turkey to
Syria and delivered to Arab fighters. According to Karayılan, Turkey
and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have set up an undeclared
embargo on Kurds in Syria. He claimed that while Muslim was in Turkey,
members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) met in Gaziantep, a province in
Turkey's south bordering Syria. "There, they decided to participate in
the attacks the al-Nusra Front has been carrying out against Kurds,"
Karayılan said.
"Is it possible that such a meeting could take place independent of
the Turkish state?" Karayılan said, questioning Turkey's position on
the Syria conflict. The rebels fighting the Assad regime have modern
weapons like anti-aircraft missiles and artillery, and Karayılan is
convinced that these arms come from Turkey. "What is 100 percent true
for us is that these [weapons] arrived in Syria by way of Turkey,"
he said.
In a written response to a parliamentary question submitted by Umut
Oran, the deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican People's
Party (CHP), Davutoglu hinted that Turkey considers the Nusra Front
a terrorist organization, describing al-Nusra as an extremist group.
Davutoglu added that al-Nusra is classified by the US and the UN as
a terrorist group because of its connections with al-Qaeda.
Armenian News - Tert.a
10:31 17.08.13
A leading member of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has
accused Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of being engaged
in efforts to aid armed groups in Syria that have been clashing
with Syria's Democratic Union Party (PYD), an offshoot of the PKK,
Today's Zaman reported, citing Taraf daily.
"I'm well informed that Mr. Davutoglu has been giving special attention
to these forces for more than a year," said Murat Karayılan, a member
of the executive council of the Kurdistan Communities' Union (KCK),
an umbrella group for the PKK, according to Taraf.
Syria's ethnic Kurdish minority, led by the PYD, gave signals about
a month ago that in the absence of a central government in war-torn
Syria it was planning to establish an autonomous administration to
cater to the needs of locals in the northern part of the country. Now,
some of the Islamist groups fighting the Syrian regime, such as the
al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, have turned their weapons against the
Kurds. Fighting between the PYD and the Islamist groups has continued
since then.
Karayilan, who is also the head of the PKK's armed wing, the People's
Defense Forces (HPG), said that the policy he attributed to Davutoglu
only makes sense if Kurds are seen as the enemy. He added that the
attacks on Kurds in northern Syria are part of a plan to stop Kurds
from getting stronger and obtaining power. The HPG, Karayılan said,
has been reorganized to respond to the new situation. Reports say the
HPG is now in a position to cooperate militarily with Peshmerga forces
under Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG) in northern Iraq, and to Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Iraq's Kurdish president. Karayılan
said the PKK is preparing to establish a professional army.
PYD head Saleh Muslim, who has been to Turkey twice recently, has said
that weapons and ammunition continue to be transferred from Turkey to
Syria and delivered to Arab fighters. According to Karayılan, Turkey
and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have set up an undeclared
embargo on Kurds in Syria. He claimed that while Muslim was in Turkey,
members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) met in Gaziantep, a province in
Turkey's south bordering Syria. "There, they decided to participate in
the attacks the al-Nusra Front has been carrying out against Kurds,"
Karayılan said.
"Is it possible that such a meeting could take place independent of
the Turkish state?" Karayılan said, questioning Turkey's position on
the Syria conflict. The rebels fighting the Assad regime have modern
weapons like anti-aircraft missiles and artillery, and Karayılan is
convinced that these arms come from Turkey. "What is 100 percent true
for us is that these [weapons] arrived in Syria by way of Turkey,"
he said.
In a written response to a parliamentary question submitted by Umut
Oran, the deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican People's
Party (CHP), Davutoglu hinted that Turkey considers the Nusra Front
a terrorist organization, describing al-Nusra as an extremist group.
Davutoglu added that al-Nusra is classified by the US and the UN as
a terrorist group because of its connections with al-Qaeda.
Armenian News - Tert.a