"Turkey's Mounting Concerns over PKK Incursions from Northern Iraq
By Lydia Khalil
There have been ongoing tensions between Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish authorities over Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists operating out of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) territory. In a recent trip to the United States after meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that he expected Iraq and the United States to do more to eliminate the PKK presence in northern Iraq. He stated that he did not understand why "terrorists are being sheltered" in an area that is not enemy territory (Turkish Daily News, July 8). Iraqi Kurds have acknowledged Turkey's concerns regarding the PKK, but always qualify the sentiment by stressing that Iraqi national security has greater priority and Iraq has had limited resources to deal with all of its regional security threats. In this latest meeting, Zebari promised that Iraq would extradite terrorists under KRG custody to Turkey and facilitate the extradition of PKK fighters under coalition custody. Gul reiterated his country's demand for the extradition of al-Qaeda members in Iraq responsible for bomb attacks in Turkey (Anatolia, July 3)."
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