Al-Maliki Vows To Fight Terrorism
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ISTANBUL — Prime Minister al-Maliki pledged today to work with his country’s neighbors to fight terrorism, comments that come under intense pressure from Turkey and America for his government to help put an end to attacks from Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq.
A short time later, Iraqi authorities shut down an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Solution party in Irbil, an organization that allegedly had close ties to Kurdish guerrillas.
Secretary of State Rice was playing go-between with Turkish and Iraqi officials as escalating tensions along the Turkish-Iraqi border overshadowed an international meeting on Iraq’s future. Turkish troops are massed on the border, and world leaders are trying to prevent an assault that could open a new front in the Iraq war.
“Iraq should not be a base for attacks against neighbors,” Mr. al-Maliki said. “We will cooperate with our neighbors in defeating this threat.”
The U.N. chief appealed for dialogue to resolve fears of a Turkish offensive against the rebels.
“The series of incidents along the border between Turkey and Iraq demonstrates the need for continuous engagement to address concerns,” Secretary-General Ban told the delegates. “We recognize Turkey’s security concerns.”
Ms. Rice and her foreign minister counterparts from Iraq and Turkey held a private meeting on the sidelines of the conference. The small session began with stiff smiles and pleasantries before reporters were ushered away.
Earlier, Mr. al-Maliki’s spokesman had warned that no one can stop Kurdish rebels in Iraq’s remote northern border region from attacking Turkey.
“It’s not in our capacity” to capture the rebels, an Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said. “It’s not even in the capacity of Turkey.”
Turkey has sought the closure of the office in Irbil, accusing it of being a front organization for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
But the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Solution party, Faeq Goolpie, said by telephone the organization has no connections with the rebels.
“The authorities in Irbil have closed our office without an explanation. The security forces came to the office and made official lists of the materials and equipment in the office and ordered everyone to leave. No one was arrested,” Mr. Goolpie said.
Turkey is hosting the Istanbul gathering, which includes about two dozen nations and organizations pledged to support Iraq’s American-backed government economically and politically.
The guest list includes Iran and Syria, two nations America blames for furthering instability and violence inside Iraq. Ms. Rice sat across from Iran’s foreign minister at an opening dinner last night, but the two had no private meeting — something Iraq and many other Mideast nations had hoped for.
Until now, Iraq’s border with Turkey to the north was not considered much of a problem for American forces or the fragile government in Baghdad. That changed over the past month with an onslaught of attacks by the PKK rebel group.
The deaths of more than 40 people over the past month have pushed Turkey to threaten a major offensive across the Iraq border unless Iraq and America can neutralize the rebels first. The Turkish anger came on top of umbrage over an American congressional vote labeling the 1915 deaths of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks a genocide.
Ms. Rice urged calm and cooperation in a string of meetings yesterday with top Turkish leaders who insisted that Turkey will do what it must to stop the rebel attacks.