Iraqi Kurd official says PKK is not a terrorist organization

The PKK is not a terrorist organization, it can only be referred to as terrorist if the PKK rejects a proposal by Turkey to meet, Turkey's ANKA News Agency quoted Barzani speaking to Italy's Il Tempo.Â

Kurds should not get involved in an armed struggle, they should choose a political struggle instead, Barzani added.

"We are afraid of nobody. To invade our territory is equal to a step that would be a gamble which could lead to a region-wide crisis," he said when asked whether he is concerned about a Turkish invasion into their territory under the "pretext" of a PKK struggle.Â

We need to unite as terrorism and radicalism knows no bounds; therefore, an international power is needed for cooperation, he added.

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.

Barzani also said Kirkuk was a part of the Kurdish regional administration, but the identity of Kirkuk should be determined in respect to the nations that live there.

The referendum on Kirkuk, which was opposed by Turkey and was scheduled to take place in December 2007 according to the Iraqi constitution, was postponed for six months with a proposal by the U.N. Â

Turkey pursues every diplomatic means for Kirkuk to have special status in a united Iraq as a result of U.N.-brokered negotiations participated in by all the groups in the disputed city.

Kirkuk, an ancient city that once was part of the Ottoman Empire, is home to Arabs, Turkmens and Kurds. Control over Kirkuk and the surrounding oil wealth is in dispute between the city's three ethnic groups.

Nationally, the dispute pits the Kurds, who want to annex it to their semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq, against the country's Arabs and Turkmens. Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, thousands of Kurds pushed out of the region under Saddam Hussein's rule have flooded back to Kirkuk.

Kurds have had no intentions of endangering the security and stability of Iraq, Barzani told Il Tempo, adding the decision regarding Kirkuk should be made by means of referendum.Â

Photo: AA