Kurdish War: January 29, 2004

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: The US said that coalition forces now consider the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and affiliates in north Iraq to be terrorist organizations. This indicates the CPA will support the use of coalition troops against PKK enclaves in northern Iraq, a policy decision long sought by the Turkish government. Paul Bremer, civilian head of the CPA in Baghdad gave this official statement: "President Bush has committed to end the use of Iraq as a terrorist haven. There is no place for terrorism or terrorist organizations in the new Iraq." Bremer also mentioned as PKK "affiliates" the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (KADEK) and the Kurdistan People's Congress (aka Kongra Gel). Turkey has been pressuring the US for an open and unequivocal declaration that the PKK in Iraq is a terrorist organization. The US had already called the PKK terrorists, but the situation in northern Iraq was, in Turkeys view, politically unsettled. Some have suggested  that coalition troops and Turkish forces were sharing intelligence about PKK activities in Iraq. Turkey and the US discussed sharing Special Forces and liaison officers if Turkish peacekeepers deployed into Iraq. That did not occur due to Iraqi objections to the presence of large Turkish forces beyond the Iraqi-Turkish northern border region. 



 

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