By Ilnur Cevik
ANKARA - TDN - The United States wanted to assign PKK militants who do not want to resume fighting a terrorist war against Turkey as border guards of Iraq at the Iranian border, Kurdish and western diplomatic sources reported.
The offer came as the PKK terrorist organization in northern Iraq split between militant groups who want to resume a terrorist war against Turkey and those who oppose new violent acts.
PKK militants have been holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq in the Kandil region since its leader Abdullah Ocalan was caught in 1999 and sent to prison in Turkey and the organization was forced to declare a unilateral ceasefire.
The PKK leaders recently announced they were ending the unilateral ceasfire upon the orders of its leadfer Ocalan and would restart their terrorist war inside Turkey. The terrorist campaign between 1984 and 1999 cost 35,000 lives and tens of billions of dollars. Since then there have been some terrorist activities in the southeastern and eastern priovinces but officials say they have not been limited in the form of hit and run attacks and do not threaten the general security situation. They say the fact that some PKK militants refused to resume terrorist activities has also played a role in the failure of the separatists to expand their campaign.
The PKK leadership holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq has been split into three groups with two groups refusing to resume terrorist activities inside Turkey. One of these groups is the 2,000 militants originating from Syria who either want to go back to Syria or be a part of the Kurdish structure in northern Iraq. The other is the group led by Osman Ocalan who has defied his imprisoned brother along with 17 other PKK officials and has a following of about 1,500 militants who do not want to resume fighting, who do not want to go back to Turkey and want to stay in northern Iraq.
These two groups pose a dilemma both for ther Americans and for the Kurdish regional administrations in Erbul and Suleymania. The Iraqi Kurdish leadership do not want to host them in northern Iraq and want them out of their region. But they cannot simply hand them over to Turkey and create the impression that Kurds have not protected other Kurds.
So the Americans have come up with a solution of their own and offered to incorporate these PKK militants into the new Iraqi border guard sustem and send them to the Iranian border.
Kurdish leaders have rejected this proposal saying it would create problems for them both with Turkey and the Iranians.
All this comes as Ankara presses the Americans to deal with the PKK militants in northern Iraq as promised. The U.S. told Ankara it would not tolerate the presence of any armed force in Iraq but has not made a move to dislodge the PKK from the mountains of northern Iraq.
Now the issue will lie with the new Iraqi governmment, Turkish officials say. However, the new Iraqi administration does not have the forces to even provide proper security for the Iraqi people in general and cannot launch any operation against the PKK.
Turkish observers say this issue will remain a major headache for Iraqi Kurdish leaders as much as for the Baghdad administration.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani has already raised the issue of what should be done about the PKK militants who refuse to resume fighting a terrorist war during his visit to Ankara last week.
Kurdish leaders say Ankara would be well advised to declare an amnesty for them but they fail to say what should be done to the militants who have agreed to resume terrorist activities against Turkey.