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Iraq ready to cooperate with Turkey in fight against PKK

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-15 11:38

ANKARA -- Iraqi ambassador to Turkey Sabah Umran has extended Iraq's support to Turkey's fight against the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) and said that they were ready to cooperate with Turkey in that fight.

Umran said Tuesday that Turkey's Special Envoy to Iraq Murat Ozcelik held a series of contacts in Iraq with the bilateral relations and the issue of PKK high on his agenda.

The ambassador said that Iraq supported Turkey's fight against the PKK, adding that they were ready to cooperate with Turkey to this end.

Umran added that both the central government and the local administration in north of Iraq clearly condemned the PKK activities as acts of terrorism.

Seventeen Turkish soldiers were killed on Oct. 3, when PKK militants based in northern Iraq attacked Aktutun Gendarmerie Border Unit in Semdinli town in the province of Hakkari.

The Turkish General Staff said in a statement posted on its website on Monday that Turkish warplanes have bombed the PKK targets in northern Iraq for seven times since Oct. 4.

The PKK took up arms in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.

Ankara has conducted frequent air raids on suspected positions of the PKK in northern Iraq. In February, Ankara also launched an eight-day cross-border ground incursion against PKK rebels.