Barzani supports Turkey’s policy toward solving Kurds’ issue

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: President of Iraq’s Kurdistan region Massoud Barzani said on Friday that the Kurdish government supports the Turkish policy regarding solving the Kurds’ issue in Turkey, calling on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to abandon weapons. In an interview with the CNN Turk, Barzani said “the PKK must abandon weapons and start a new life. The Turkish initiative on the Kurdish cause in Turkey reflects positively on the region.” Relations between Ankara and Baghdad have been strained in the past by the presence of Kurdistah Workers Party (PKK) separatists who use northern Iraq as a base to launch attacks on southeast Turkey. PKK rebels have been fighting for 25 years for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey. Turkey has bombed and shelled PKK areas in northern Iraq using intelligence provided by Washington. Turkey‘s attacks are believed to have greatly weakened the PKK, whose attacks on Turkey have dropped in recent months. Some 40,000 people have been killed in Turkey since the PKK took up arms in 1984. SH (P) 1