Baghdad stresses continued dialogue with the Kurds
Iraq, Politics, 8/4/1999

Baghdad on Tuesday called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to intervene with Ankara to put an end to the "aggressions against Iraq." It stressed continued dialogue with the Kurdish parties which control the northern parts of the country despite the US pressures to prevent such a dialogue.

The Iraqi News Agency said that Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf has sent a message to Annan in which he asked the international organization "to shoulder its responsibility as stated in the UN charter and to put an end to the threats and aggressions imposed on Iraq."

The Iraqi News Agency indicated statements made by the Turkish army's chief of staff, Gen. Hussein Kafri Oglo, in which he stressed that Turkish F- 16 planes "attacked camps for the Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq," is considered "an open Turkish admission of the flagrant violations committed by Turkey in violating all world norms and charters."

On last Tuesday, Oglo said that Turkish F-16 warplanes attacked rebel camps for the Kurds in northern Iraq and denied accusations raised by Tehran that Turkish planes bombarded the Iranian territories. Oglo said the bombarded place was within the Iraqi territories, not in Iran.

Al-Sahaf stated that Iraq "strongly condemns the operations carried out by the Turkish armed forces and calls on Ankara to give up repeating such illegal practices and refuses the claims and pretexts used by Turkey to justify its aggressions against Iraq."

The Iraqi minister also addressed a similar message to the Arab League, calling upon it to move in order to put an end to the US and British raids in the northern and southern parts of Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi magazine al-Itihad quoted Iraqi Information and culture Ministry secretary Hamid Saeed as saying that, "Doors are always open and dialogue with the Kurds has never stopped despite the American pressures."

The Iraqi official criticized the leaders of the two Kurdish rival parties the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Jalal al-Talebani, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Masoud Barzani, because they held negotiations at the end of last June under the auspices of the US.

He added, "It can be said that Washington's meeting did not achieve any progress to eliminate the state of partition among the Kurds."

He asserted that only Baghdad can initiate a dialogue and discussions in the future and all "projects cooked abroad are doomed to failure."

Previous Stories:
  Barzani rejects US projects to topple Saddam Hussein   (7/29/1999)
  Report: A secret US plan in northern Iraq   (7/28/1999)
  Saddam Hussein warns of plans to divide Iraq   (6/29/1999)

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