NATIONALIST LEADER BAHCELI: KIRKUK WILL REMAIN 'TURKISH' FOREVER
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/nationalist-leader-bahceli-kirkuk-will-remain-turkish-forever.aspx?pageID=238&nID=40530&NewsCatID=338
ANKARA
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli speaks at
parliamentary group meeting. DAILY NEWS photo / Selahattin SONMEZ The
Turkish government has abandoned the Turkmen minority in Kirkuk for the
sake of energy deals with Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG),
but the city will remain Turkish forever, Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli said today.
While noting that the Turkish government's relations with the Iraqi
Kurdish administration had improved in recent years, Bahceli accused
"the Peshmarga administration" of conducting secret operations against
Turkmen people and called on the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP) to take rapid action in order to protect Turkmens' rights.
"Kirkuk is Turkish and will remain Turkish forever," Bahceli said
during his parliamentary group meeting. "Kirkuk is love, passion to
us," Bahceli said, adding that he considered Kirkuk to be no different
than Istanbul and Ankara.
Bahceli also extended condolences to Turkmens following a recent
coordinated attack on Kirkuk's police headquarters - a suicide car
bomb followed by an assault by grenade-throwing gunmen - that killed
30 people and wounded 88 others.
Recalling messages of solidarity given to Turkmens by Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutošlu during an August 2012 visit to Kirkuk, the MHP leader
said the AKP government had failed to display this solidarity in
practice. Instead, the government has been "inconsistent, insincere
and exploitative," he said.
He also suggested that the energy deals signed by the Turkish
government and the Iraqi Kurdish administration have turned into an
issue of priority for the AKP instead of the situation of the Turkmens.
Kirkuk, a multiethnic city of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen 240 kilometers
north of Baghdad, lies at the heart of a dispute between Iraq's
central government and the autonomous Kurdistan region.
February/05/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/nationalist-leader-bahceli-kirkuk-will-remain-turkish-forever.aspx?pageID=238&nID=40530&NewsCatID=338
ANKARA
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli speaks at
parliamentary group meeting. DAILY NEWS photo / Selahattin SONMEZ The
Turkish government has abandoned the Turkmen minority in Kirkuk for the
sake of energy deals with Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG),
but the city will remain Turkish forever, Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli said today.
While noting that the Turkish government's relations with the Iraqi
Kurdish administration had improved in recent years, Bahceli accused
"the Peshmarga administration" of conducting secret operations against
Turkmen people and called on the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP) to take rapid action in order to protect Turkmens' rights.
"Kirkuk is Turkish and will remain Turkish forever," Bahceli said
during his parliamentary group meeting. "Kirkuk is love, passion to
us," Bahceli said, adding that he considered Kirkuk to be no different
than Istanbul and Ankara.
Bahceli also extended condolences to Turkmens following a recent
coordinated attack on Kirkuk's police headquarters - a suicide car
bomb followed by an assault by grenade-throwing gunmen - that killed
30 people and wounded 88 others.
Recalling messages of solidarity given to Turkmens by Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutošlu during an August 2012 visit to Kirkuk, the MHP leader
said the AKP government had failed to display this solidarity in
practice. Instead, the government has been "inconsistent, insincere
and exploitative," he said.
He also suggested that the energy deals signed by the Turkish
government and the Iraqi Kurdish administration have turned into an
issue of priority for the AKP instead of the situation of the Turkmens.
Kirkuk, a multiethnic city of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen 240 kilometers
north of Baghdad, lies at the heart of a dispute between Iraq's
central government and the autonomous Kurdistan region.
February/05/2013