Ret.Turkish general says PKK uses N.Iraq as base

"Unfortunately, the areas where PKK is active for its non- terrorist activities, are the territories of the European Union (EU) member states," Baser, who was the former special representative for countering terrorism, said in a conference, co-organized by the Strategic Researches Center of Bahcesehir University and Konrad Adenauer Foundation, in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

Baser said the approach of EU members was unresponsive and contradicted with the principles of cooperation among friends.

The retired general said that it would be hard to meet around a common security vision as long as EU members did not care about Turkey's national security concerns regarding its territories and the region as a whole.

No NATO country was as important as Turkey in regards to prevent clashes in the future, Klaus Naumann, a former chief of general staff of Germany, told at the meeting, the Anatolian Agency reported.

Naumann said it was a strategic obligation for European countries to anchor Turkey to the West, and told the participants that the EU could not achieve its target to become a global player without Turkey.

The former German chief of staff said Turkey relied on its international partners in its fight against terrorism, after stressing that international terrorism could only be eliminated through international cooperation.

Turkey, provided with intelligence on PKK movements in Iraq by the U.S., has stepped up military action against the PKK since December, carrying out several air strikes and a week-long ground incursion into northern Iraq in February, where more than 2,000 PKK separatists take refuge.Â

 

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community including the U.S. and the EU.

 

Photo: AA