"It's time for Turkey to test its friends on the PKK - II
Faruk Demir
18 April 2006
US and Iraqi Kurds
For many long years the U.S. has helped Turkey in its struggle against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The U.S. also made a political declaration of its support by adding the PKK to its list of terrorist organizations. However there are two important differences between the conflict now and pre-1999. The first is that the U.S. is now resident in Iraq militarily and politically. Importantly now, a part of the area where the conflict with the PKK takes place is under direct observation by the U.S.. Another point is the fact that in northern Iraq there is a local Kurdistan government, which remains dependent on Iraq for now but has a large degree of autonomy. Before 1999, both Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani either supported Turkish military operations or stayed neutral. During that period, Turkey provided a lot of assistance to both Barzani and Talabani and made important contributions to preventing any dispute between them as well. "
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