Times interview with Turkish Prime Minister | Transcript

Iraq ordered the closure yesterday of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) offices in the country as pressure mounted on the Government of Nouri al-Maliki to clamp down on the hardline Kurdish separatists.

“The PKK is a terrorist organisation and we have taken a decision to shut down their offices and not allow them to operate on Iraqi soil,” Mr al-Maliki said after talks with Ali Babacan, the Turkish Foreign Minister.

“We will also work on limiting their terrorist activities which are threatening Iraq and Turkey.”

President Talabani, a Kurd, also declared that PKK attacks on Turkey would not be tolerated. “We have given the PKK the option to leave or disarm. We care for every drop of Turkish blood like we care for every drop of Iraqi blood,” he said.

As pictures emerged apparently showing eight Turkish soldiers captured in recent clashes at the Iraqi border, Gordon Brown urged Baghdad to help to “root out” terrorist attacks. The Prime Minister made his comments after talks with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Turkish counterpart.

PKK separatists, operating from northern Iraq, killed a dozen Turkish soldiers in the latest fighting at the weekend and claimed to have captured eight soldiers. A Kurdish television station with links to the PKK broadcast footage of the eight men in military camouflage apparently uninjured in front of a rocky hillside.

Mr Brown offered support to the Turkish Government while urging restraint in its dealings in Iraq with the PKK, and condemned “absolutely and unequivocally” the violence of the organisation.

He said that Britain was committed to working with the Turkish Government on counter-terrorism activity “so we can root out these problems and we will continue to work for a diplomatic solution to the problems that exist from within Iraq”.

The Prime Minister added: “This is where the Iraqi Government and others can play a part in ensuring that there is a proper solution to these difficulties.”

Mr Brown also said that the Government would proscribe the PKK and organisations associated with it in Britain. “We will step up our counter-terrorism co-operation with the Turkish Government to deal with this issue.”

Mr Erdogan refused to back down over his threat of force but David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said that diplomatic efforts had secured breathing space before any Turkish military action across the border.

Turkey had been top of the agenda when Mr Miliband met Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, for talks on Tuesday night, which otherwise barely touched on the subject of Iraq — a reflection, he said, of the improved security situation there.

He suggested that the flurry of personal telephone calls from President Bush and Dr Rice to Turkish leaders on Sunday and Monday had been “a big thing” for a country that often feels that America does not understand it. He noted that Mr Erdogan “went ahead with his trip to the UK — that was important”.

He also said that Britain continued to back the Turkish application for EU membership and was confident that progress could be made soon “despite some of the difficulties of recent days and weeks”. The Prime Minister also announced the signing of a “strategic partnership” between the two nations, which includes plans for a British university in Turkey.

Mr Erdogan said that the Turkish Parliament had authorised a military operation in northern Iraq, but emphasised that any such operation would be conducted only against the PKK.

He emphasised that his country had no territorial designs on Iraq but added: “The Iraqi Government must know we can exercise this mandate we have received from the Turkish Parliament at any time.”

He said that his government had tried for months to reach successful agreements with the Iraqi administration, adding: “We cannot wait for ever, so we have to make decisions, our own decisions.”

Mr Brown said: “We unequivocally condemn what the PKK has done, both the deaths of army soldiers, the kidnapping of men and the threat and injuries to civilians.

“As far as Iraq is concerned we will step up all the efforts that are necessary so that terrorists cannot move from Iraq over the mountains.

“We believe the actions we are prepared to take internationally give some support to the Turkish Government in these difficult circumstances.

“We will work together to deal with any terrorist atrocities that exist. We will step up efforts together so we can deal with the terrorist threat.”

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