AGL 38.50 Decreased By ▼ -1.08 (-2.73%)
AIRLINK 127.65 Decreased By ▼ -3.57 (-2.72%)
BOP 6.93 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.76%)
CNERGY 4.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-4.03%)
DCL 8.19 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-2.96%)
DFML 38.50 Decreased By ▼ -2.97 (-7.16%)
DGKC 79.30 Decreased By ▼ -2.79 (-3.4%)
FCCL 31.80 Decreased By ▼ -1.30 (-3.93%)
FFBL 70.60 Decreased By ▼ -2.27 (-3.12%)
FFL 12.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-1.31%)
HUBC 107.26 Decreased By ▼ -3.48 (-3.14%)
HUMNL 13.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.66 (-4.55%)
KEL 4.88 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-5.97%)
KOSM 7.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-2.1%)
MLCF 37.40 Decreased By ▼ -1.50 (-3.86%)
NBP 67.71 Increased By ▲ 3.70 (5.78%)
OGDC 186.00 Decreased By ▼ -6.82 (-3.54%)
PAEL 24.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.93 (-3.62%)
PIBTL 7.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.23%)
PPL 147.50 Decreased By ▼ -6.57 (-4.26%)
PRL 24.68 Decreased By ▼ -1.15 (-4.45%)
PTC 16.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.91 (-5.11%)
SEARL 79.40 Decreased By ▼ -2.90 (-3.52%)
TELE 7.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-4.64%)
TOMCL 32.40 Decreased By ▼ -1.06 (-3.17%)
TPLP 8.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-3.42%)
TREET 16.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-0.72%)
TRG 55.75 Decreased By ▼ -1.65 (-2.87%)
UNITY 27.80 Increased By ▲ 0.29 (1.05%)
WTL 1.32 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-3.65%)
BR100 10,316 Decreased By -188.6 (-1.79%)
BR30 30,362 Decreased By -864.9 (-2.77%)
KSE100 96,670 Decreased By -1409.6 (-1.44%)
KSE30 30,100 Decreased By -459.1 (-1.5%)

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called on Baghdad on Friday to shut down camps run by separatist Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and to hand over guerrilla leaders.
His comments came two days after the Ankara parliament defied Washington and authorised Turkish troops to cross the mountainous border into northern Iraq to track down the rebels, who use the region as a base from which to attack Turkey.
Baghdad, backed by Washington, has urged Turkey to refrain from military action, saying this could destabilise the wider region, but has also told the rebel fighters to leave Iraq.
"What will satisfy us is the closure of all PKK (rebel) camps, including their training facilities, and the handover of the terrorist leaders to us," Erdogan told reporters after attending Friday prayers at an Istanbul mosque. Some 3,000 rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), including its leaders, are believed to be hiding in mainly Kurdish northern Iraq.
Erdogan is under heavy public pressure to act against the PKK after a series of deadly attacks on Turkish troops. Turkish Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek played down the economic risks connected to the Iraq crisis.
"Of course we will take further steps and respond to any pressure if needed, but I do believe Turkey's economy can withstand current pressures," he told a meeting with investors and bank analysts during a trip to Washington.
The Pentagon annoyed Turkey after Wednesday's parliamentary vote by suggesting it did not think Ankara had much appetite for a cross-border incursion. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek was quoted on Friday as saying Turkey was serious about sending troops into Iraq.
"We have made the decision and we will do what is necessary. We are not reluctant. There is no going back on this," Today's Zaman newspaper quoted Cicek as saying in an interview.
Parliament's authorisation is valid for one year. Erdogan has signalled that military operations are not imminent. Thousands of Iraqi Kurds marched on Thursday in Arbil, capital of their autonomous region, to protest against Turkey's moves and to call for peaceful dialogue. But Cicek repeated Ankara's refusal to deal directly with the Iraqi Kurds.
Ankara has accused Iraqi Kurdish leaders of sheltering and even actively supporting the PKK, a group it blames for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since it launched its armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in south-east Turkey in 1984.
Turkey also suspects the Iraqi Kurds of plotting to build an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq, a move it fears could fan separatism among its own large ethnic Kurdish population and destabilise the whole region.

Copyright Reuters, 2007

Comments

Comments are closed.