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Iraq President Suggests Amnesty For Turkey's Kurdish Rebels


Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (file photo) (official site) 24 October 2005 -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in an interview published today, has suggested that Ankara give a general amnesty to Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels to end fighting in southwest Turkey.

Talabani, himself a Kurd, made his remarks to "The New Anatolian," a Turkish English-language daily.

He said it would be impossible for Turkey to solve its issues with Kurdish rebels with force.

Turkey says the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party, the PKK, is using bases in northern Iraq to attack its territory.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984, when the PKK took up arms in a fight for autonomy in Turkey's southeast.

(AFP)

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