HELSINKI - Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Wednesday that, if the Turkish Parliament extended by one year the Turkish Government`s mandate to order military strikes against the PKK terrorist organization in northern Iraq, such an authorization would only target the terrorists.
President Gul and his Finnish counterpart Tarja Halonen held a joint press conference following their tete-a-tete meeting in Helsinki on Wednesday.
Reminded by a Finnish journalist about the Prime Ministry motion that will be debated at the Turkish Parliament on Wednesday to extend by one year the government`s mandate to order military strikes against the PKK terrorist organization in northern Iraq and asked whether the "Kurdish issue" or the "European Union (EU) issue" was important for Turkey, Gul replied that "if the parliament makes a favorable decision to extend the period, this would not take place to bomb the Kurds."
"The Kurds are a part of Turkey. Turkey embraced the Kurds in north of Iraq when they were attacked by chemical weapons. Turkey is the country that helps north of Iraq the most. 4,000 Turkish trucks carry goods to be used by the residents of north of Iraq on a daily basis," Gul said.
"However, there are shelters of terrorist PKK organization in mountainous areas which can not be controlled by north of Iraq. PKK has been described as a terrorist organization by NATO and the EU. We must distinguish between the Kurdish people and PKK terrorist organization. In the past few days, the terrorists crossed into Turkey and attacked on Turkish security forces. Several attacks were staged in big cities. Any authorization for future military operations in north of Iraq would only target the terrorists," Gul said.
"Membership in the EU and the fight against terror complement each other. EU membership is a state strategy of Turkey and the priority is to complete the membership negotiations," Gul noted.
"Membership in the EU will not be an obstacle in the fight against terror. On the contrary, there is solidarity in the EU in the fight against terror and this solidarity must grow further," Gul said.
(SOL-MS)
(DIP)