Gordon Brown Welcomes Turkey Restraint On PKK

UK's PM welcomes Turkey restraint on PKK

Gordon Brown has said he "supports the restraint of Turkey" following recent attacks on Turkish forces by separatist group PKK.

In a Downing Street press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, the PM said that he "absolutely and unequivocally" condemned the actions of the Kurdish rebels on Sunday that left 12 soldiers dead. A further eight are being held by the PKK in an undisclosed location.

The Prime Minister said that he could "appreciate the anger in Turkey" over the latest killings and that the UK would do it all it could to help "investigate and root out" terrorist elements operating in the border region of south east Turkey and northern Iraq. Mr Brown added that the UK and Turkey had agreed to build closer ties on security issues to deal with both the PKK and wider terrorist threats.

The PM also said that the allies including the US, the Iraqi government and the regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq would work with Turkey and the UK to ensure "no safe haven" for terrorists in the border area. The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) has been fighting for an independent Kurdish state straddling Turkey and Iraq since the 1970s.

During the press conference Mr Brown revealed that the PKK had now been proscribed by the UK as a terrorist organisation. Mr Erdogan said that Turkey "cannot wait forever" for the violence to end - the Turkish parliament is in the process of considering the authorisation of cross-border military action to combat PKK soldiers inside Iraq.

ENDS

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