| Name : Admin | Turkey s demands will be met if Iraq takes action to shut down outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in the country s mountainous north and extradites leaders of the terrorist group, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday.
Erdoğan s remarks came after US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates hinted that US and Iraqi forces were prepared to act against the PKK in northern Iraq. At a press conference on Thursday, Gates said that the United States was determined to work with the Turks to reduce the threat posed by the PKK and said the US and Iraq would do the appropriate thing, without elaborating.
I think that if we were to come up with specific information, that we and the Iraqis would be prepared to do the appropriate thing, and if we had information on them in Turkey, that we would provide that information, Gates said in Washington. Eyes are on Turkey after Parliament this week gave the go-ahead for a possible cross-border operation in northern Iraq to crush the PKK bases there.
The government said the securing of the authorization did not mean an operation was imminent and the Iraqi government called on Ankara to give diplomacy one more chance to resolve the problem.
Asked what actions of Iraq would satisfy Turkey s expectations, Erdoğan yesterday said: Closure of all PKK camps in northern Iraq and extradition of all terrorist leaders in these camps. This is what would satisfy Turkey. But the prime minister made it clear that Turkey would not tolerate any delaying tactics from the Iraq side. We have run out of tolerance and we clearly expressed this to [Iraqi] Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Erdoğan told reporters in İstanbul.
Iraqi Kurds, who are accused by Ankara of tolerating and even supporting the PKK in their territory, have recently made calls on the PKK to leave northern Iraq, something which Erdoğan said was a positive step, although he also stated that it came late. We hope that they will follow this statement with deeds, Erdoğan said, referring to remarks by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, that Iraq wants the PKK to leave its territory as soon as possible.
But we have already started a process and we are going to continue with it determinedly, the prime minister added. No country can allow presence of terrorist groups that constitute a threat to security of a neighboring country. There is a violation of international law is such groups are tolerated.
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki has vowed that he will bring an end to the presence inside Iraq of the PKK, who he has labeled terrorists several times in recent days. But the situation on the ground means his options are limited. The Iraqi army is not deployed on the Turkish border or anywhere else in the region, where security is under the control of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga militiamen. Observers say any moves to rein in the PKK must come from the Kurdish administration which controls the peshmerga and has more influence with the terrorist group than the central government in Baghdad.
Erdoğan also responded to questions on a congressional resolution backing Armenian allegations of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during the World War I years. With support in the US House of Representatives declining for the resolution, Erdoğan said he hoped the resolution will not pass in Congress and that justice will be served in the end.
He also thanked the US administration for its lobbying against the resolution and reiterated that Turkey was ready to face its past because there has never been genocide as Armenians claimed.
| | Name : Steven | Pkk is terrorist. This is real and all must be accept to like!!
| | Name : Michael | This is a great article.All of the article is true,I totally agree with these ideas.
Thanks for sharing this article with us..
| | Name : Mary Smith | The PKK plans to hijack the diplomatic success that has appeared on the horizon against the PKK. We have moved ever closer to isolating the PKK in Turkey, in the region and in the international arena. A wrong move at this stage will isolate Turkey instead. It is not time to act emotionally, but rationally, calculating the strategic targets of the PKK well and not falling into the trap. Turkey must be very carefull.
| | Name : Abdullah Baranlı | comment by abdullah baranlı;
This is a tragic TERRORIST ATTACK.There isnt any explanation about it.I dont understand why you define that is rebel attack.They crossed our border and killed our 12 troops.I think, west must be understand that terrorism is dangerous for every nation.
In TURKEY,we have equal rights with kurdish people ,We have not death sentence and we had a kurdish president who name is Turgut Özal (1989-1993).So,what PKK does defend?.West want to seperate TURKEY and manage TURKEY.it can be seen from here.
| | Name : Peter Van Kijk | Please be informed.
PKK is accepted as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and some other nations, so as UK.
They are not rebels, they are terrorists like as other popular terrorist organisations.
Peter Van Kijk, Amsterdam
| | Name : john jack | Turkish army numbers 400,000
PKK rebels estimated at 3,000
Two sides fought for 15 years. This show clearly that PKK support something hands for Turkey.
| | Name : Bee LAL | Turkey cannot be a trusted ally. How could a country with such a poor record of human rights be trusted?
Joe Dujac, California
Dear Joe, I assure that Turkeys Human Rights record is 10 times better than USA and some EU members including Greece.
People can get infor more easily today thats why everbody know what USA is doing in Iraq, Felluce, pakistan, Guantanamo bay..
and Greeks, Give the rights of Turkish people on westernThrace first.
Regards
Bee LAL, Vienna, Austria
| | Name : A WIGHT | I think we have to understand the Turks now, How did we feel when US gave hidden support to IRA in the past!
| | Name : Alisha | Im with Turkeys decision all the way. The Turks knew what they were doing in the past, they know what they are doing now. They know best how to handle the situation diplomatically and millitarily. I dont agree any countyr should intefere in their relations with enemies, as they are not the ones who have been burnt over the years. Not may know the historical events that took place in Turkey. So if you cant help them in any way that will protect their borders, then just sit back and watch please
| | Name : Steven jhon | Turkish Prime Minister warns US: we will attack Kurdish rebels in Iraq. Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells The Times that he needs nobody’s permission to defend his country
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.
| | Name : Peter jhon | The profile of TURKEY:
* Full name: Republic of Turkey
* Population: 71.1 million (via UN, 2006)
* Capital: Ankara
* Largest city: Istanbul
* Area: 779,452 sq km (300,948 sq miles)
* Major language: Turkish
* Major religion: Islam
* Life expectancy: 68 years (men), 73 years (women) (UN)
* Monetary unit: New Turkish lira
* Main exports: Clothing and textiles, fruit and vegetables, iron and steel, motor vehicles and machinery, fuels and oils
* GNI per capita: US $4,710 (World Bank, 2006)
* Internet domain: .tr
* International dialling code: +90
The resource is BBC
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| | Name : steven | New York law firms are cutting associates for the first time since 2001 as the collapse of the subprime mortgage and credit markets causes private equity deal volume and structured finance work to slow.
Clifford Chance, the world s highest-grossing law firm, dismissed six senior associates who worked on mortgage-backed securities in its structured finance practice on Nov. 5. At least two other firms asked associates, or salaried lawyers, to take sabbaticals or switch departments, a move that often precedes job cuts. Partners, about one-fourth of the attorneys at the biggest firms, may also face some belt tightening.
The subprime collapse and its effect on the credit market and the volume of deals have brought a slowdown in work, probably leading to job cuts. While structured finance practices have been hit the hardest, mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices also face a slowdown, legal consultants said.
| | Name : It s time to take seriously a US-led global recession | I think it is time that we should take a serious look at the possibility that the US is going to take us down towards a worldwide recession in one or two years time.
It is well known that the US is the world s biggest economy, taking up about 30 per cent of global GDP, but it is now also the world s biggest debtor country. According to the most authoritative person on this subject, the US Comptroller General David Walker, who audits the federal government s books, the tab for the long-term promises the US Government has made to creditors, retirees, veterans and the poor amounts to US$43,000 billion, US$145,000 per US citizen, or US$350,000 for every full-time worker.
And this figure does not even take into account all the personal debts such as credit card bills and mortgages. With a low interest rate of 1 per cent running for the past three years in a row, savings plummeted to just 1.8 per cent last year, below 1 per cent since January and at zero in the latest estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In 2000, household debt broke 18 per cent of disposable income for the first time in 20 years. Credit card debt alone averages US$7,200 per household.
The US Government indebtedness is financed this way: The US now runs a trade deficit roughly 6.5 per cent of its GDP and the gap is widened every day. Its citizens are spending ever more on foreign goods, and with the US dollar as the international currency, the US Government just prints money to finance the deficit. And with this money, central banks in the surplus countries purchase most of the US Treasury bonds as currency reserve.
By now, Japan is the largest creditor of the US Government, and the Chinese mainland has been a fervent buyer for the last few years. As for Hong Kong, most if not all of our reserves are in US dollar denominated assets. The US Government in turn uses this foreign borrowed money to finance as much as 90 per cent of the federal deficit which stood at US$412 billion last year. The federal deficit is expected to be running at about US$2 billion a day at the moment.
Put it simply, the Americans have been living way beyond their means for much too long. On top of this, the Bush Administration is cutting tax at least three times while fighting an expensive war in Iraq, which has already cost the country US$700 billion, and currently progressing at US$5.6 billion per month. Now the US economy is dependent on the central banks of Japan, China and other nations to invest in US Treasuries and keep American interest rates down. The low rates keep American consumers snapping up imported goods.
Any economist worth his salt knows that this situation is unsustainable. This includes the country s economic guru driver Alan Greenspan, who recently warned his countrymen that the federal budget deficit would hamper the nation s ability to absorb possible shocks from the soaring trade deficit and the housing boom. Now he may have to add two more worries: soaring oil prices and cyclones.
The US is now clearly in huge trouble, economically, socially, politically, and internationally. The Bush Administration bungled big in cyclone Katrina s aftermath in New Orleans, and then a minor rerun from Rita in Houston, and this will trigger the general outburst of people s dissatisfaction with the government, leading to great internal turmoil lasting for many years. In all likelihood, long-term interest rates are going to rise, and the greatest property bubble the world has witnessed is going to burst in the next one to two years.
The countdown is in progress, and there is no way that anybody can do anything to reverse it either by short-term measures such as fiscal and monetary policy, or through long-term reform of tax policy, entitlement programmes and even the entire federal budget. This is as inevitable as gravity, and it will take place under a new and inexperienced chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. I do not want to sound alarmist, but I see very bad omens.
To make things simple, let us just examine some key economic issues raised by some economists:
What if the dollar plummets? Do stocks follow? How about pensions?
What if interest rates soar? How would all the new homeowners, who stretched to buy with adjustable and interest-only loans, cover their mortgages?
How would consumers with record credit-card debt make their payments? Would they stop buying? Stop taking vacations? What will happen if they go bankrupt? New rules going into effect later this year make it harder on such debtors.
How would a government, which depends on the taxes of a strong economy to operate, keep all its promises?
To us, the good news is that when the country is in deep trouble, the US will not have the energy to pick on China. Even when it is necessary to start another war to divert people s attention, it would pick one much smaller in size and weaker in strength, like Iran. This will provide a much more amicable environment for China to make good use of its "period of strategic opportunity" till 2020 for the country to pass through a turbulent zone between per capita income of US$1,000-3,000.
But in the short term, now the US not only sneezes, and all symptoms indicate that it is going to suffer from a SARS-like trouble, the whole world should take extra precaution not to get infected. One thing is for sure, some time in the not too distant future, every central bank and institutional investor is going to dump US dollar and US Treasury bonds. Once, when a country like South Korea dumps the dollar, the still unsold US Treasuries in the asset column of Asian central banks - US$2,000 billion according to some estimates - will collapse. The cheapened dollar will cause a sudden jump in the US inflation, which forces the Fed to jack up interest rates. A giant leap in inflation will cause a severe recession, or perhaps a depression, in the US. These countries exports to America will dry up, which in turn will spread the global economic downturn like wildfire.
After the stampede, everybody is going to get hurt, not least the central bank of China, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which are major US creditors and with the US as their number one export market. The recent currency reform of the RMB is most timely, and it is about time we should do something about the Hong Kong dollar. At the same time, China should make extra efforts to rekindle internal consumption, and diversify its market really fast before the great US bubble bursts.
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=1110
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