Wednesday, May 8, 2013

PKK Fighters Begin Pullout from Turkey

Armed Rebels Resettling in Iraqi Kurdistan 


The Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, today started withdrawal of its fighters from Turkey. The PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, had declared a cease-fire in March after holding talks with senior Turkish leaders to end a nearly 30-year insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives. PKK’s fought for autonomy and greater rights for the Kurdish people who make up nearly 20 percent of Turkey’s population.
PKK fighters will be resettled in the mountainous regions of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. They have, however, rejected a Turkish demand to lay down arms before leaving the Turkish territory. The PKK's commander, Murat Karayilan, said the group won't disarm until Turkey enacts democratic reforms increasing the rights of Kurds and introduces an amnesty for all imprisoned rebels, including Ocalan, the Associated Press reported.
Associated Press, quoting Gultan Kisinak, one of the leaders of PKK, reported that the first group of rebel fighters, furthest away from the border with Iraqi Kurdistan, started their movement toward the border this morning. The fighters nearest the border keep watch and ensure secure passage of the rebels and would leave last.
Photo credit: PKK rebels begin to withdraw from Turkey (AFP/BBC)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Turkey is under immense US/Zionist pressure to calm things down with the Kurds and focus on Syria. I don't think the lovefest with PKK is going to last long at the Kurdish agenda is the dismemberment of Southeastern Anatolia and an independent Kurdish state as espoused by Abdullah Ocalan's original charter dating back to Mullah Mustafa Barzani era. The Turkish state is in for a rough ride as Syrian and Iraqi Kurds now even get more emboldened. Iraqi Kurdistan is already a defacto independent state and is selling oil to Europe and US on its own, not to mention the largest CIA and MOSSAD bases at Salahdin and Erbil. The Peshmerga now has over 30,000 armed men with heavy weaponry and a full state infrastructure which has kept the weak Iraqi state and military out.

It is a fine mess for the region and its foreign overlords now. Menachem Begin and comatose Sharon's 1980's plan for the dismemberment of the region is unfolding right before our eyes now. STAY TUNED.

Anonymous said...

At any rate , even though it pose some security problem for Iran in short and medium terms, I like Kurds to have a country. This is a good thing for Iran to balance Arabs Turks and Islamist and Kurds deserve a country any way.

Anonymous said...

Yes indeed. Iranian Kurds have a very small population and land area are very well integrated and even the "nationalists" amongst them have no intention of joining a rump Kurdish state in Iraq or Turkey. I think the Iranian Kurds are very wary of Arabs and Turkish political dynamics.

Anonymous said...

So much for the peace deal with PKK as now the Turkish government is blaming them for the devastating bomb attacks in the Turkish town of Reyhanli. The idiot Erdogan's destructive policies will destabilize a weak and fragmented Turkey completely. Last time moronic Turks got involved with Arabs they lost their sickly Osmani empire, this Turkey will disintegrate.