Ankara, which has been pressing the United States for action to eliminate the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq, responded with caution to a fresh report by leading U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that Washington was backing the group's Iranian wing to destabilize the Islamic republic.
"This requires a cautious approach," said a Turkish diplomat requesting anonymity of the report that appeared on the New Yorker magazine's latest issue. He warned against possible "speculative elements" in the report and questioned the potential effectiveness of a policy of supporting a terrorist organization operating only in border areas as a serious means to destabilize Iran or deter the country from pursuing its contentious nuclear program.
The diplomat also dismissed any plans to ask Washington about the reported supportive policy towards the group. Israel and the United States have been "working together in support of a Kurdish resistance group known as the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan," wrote Hersh, whose 2004 reports on the U.S. military's treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison gained much attention worldwide. Quoting a government consultant with close ties to Pentagon civilian leadership, Hersh asserted that this was "part of an effort to explore alternative means of applying pressure on Iran."
The Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) is known to be operating as the Iranian wing of the PKK, designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 100 Iranian police were reportedly killed and scores injured in attacks by Iranian Kurds last year, notably by PJAK.
Turkey has long been pressing the United States for concrete action against the PKK, which has bases in the Kandil Mountains of Iraq. Iran has reportedly shelled the same area over the past months to destroy PJAK bases there.
Iran has criticized U.S. policy towards the PKK in the past, with one senior official, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, saying during a visit to Turkey in May that U.S. military officials had secret talks with the PKK in Iraq. At the time, the United States dismissed Larijani's remarks, saying it does not negotiate with terrorists.
The PKK issue has been an irritant in Turkey's relationship with the United States. Many, including top officials in the government, are convinced that a U.S. step to eliminate the PKK bases in northern Iraq could be a magic wand that could quickly reverse growing anti-U.S. feelings here in Turkey.
But tension over the PKK has eased considerably since the recent appointment by Turkey of special anti-PKK envoys, and many in Ankara believe that the focus should remain on the PKK presence in Iraq, not on "speculative" claims like Hersh's article about U.S. and Israeli support for PJAK.
Suat Kınıklıoğlu, executive director of the German Marshall Fund's office in Turkey said there was little possibility that the report could be confirmed and warned against "unnecessary tension" in Turkish-U.S. ties over such claims.
He admitted, though, that the United States is left now with limited options to deter Iran from pursuing its contentious nuclear program and therefore it can rely on methods similar to those Hersh mentions in his lengthy article.
Cengiz Çandar, a leading political analyst, also played down the report, saying Hersh was aiming to undermine the George W. Bush administration by putting its Iran policy in the spotlight and raising public concerns about it.
Source: Turkishweekly
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