Thousands of Kurdish anti-war demonstrators took to streets in a
town in Iraq's northern province of Duhuk on Saturday to protest
the Turkish parliament's approval of a motion backing military
incursion into Iraq to pursue the banned Kurdish Workers' Party
(PKK) rebels.
"Thousands of people staged a massive demonstration in the
streets of Zakhu town, rejecting the expected Turkish military's
intervention inside Iraq," Yasir al-Hamdani, a local journalist
told Xinhua.
On Thursday, a massive demonstration was held by hundreds of
angry Kurdish people in Arbil, Duhuk and some other Kurdish cities,
holding banners rejecting the Turkish threats and calling for
peaceful solutions.
However, the two demonstrations came as the Turkish parliament
gave on Wednesday its nod to a motion submitted by the Turkish
government for military incursion into neighboring Iraq to target
the PKK rebels based in Iraqi territories.
The passage of the motion paved way for the possible Turkish
military actions in northern Iraq during the next one year
period.
In another development, The Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani
lashed out, in a statement issued Saturday by his office, at his
Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Asad for recent statements in which he
announced his public support for Turkish military interference in
northern Iraq.
"I heard and saw al-Asad statements. I think they are very
dangerous and contrasted with the spirit of Arab solidarity,"
al-Talabani said, adding it is better for Asad to adopt a political
solution despite his understanding of Turkey's stance.
The Syrian president said during a visit to Turkey last week
that he backs Turkish military operations against the Kurdistan
Workers Party's (PKK) fighters inside Iraqi territories.
In an earlier statement which was issued by the office of the
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in which al-Maliki said that,
his government "will not accept the military solutions to be the
way of dealing with issues between the two countries even though we
realize and understand the concerns of our Turkish friends.
The statement added that al-Maliki is keen to prevent PKK
militants' attacks against Turkey by activating bilateral
agreements and finding new horizons for security cooperation that
may serve stability.
(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2007)
