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From: clarinews@clarinet.com (RALPH JOSEPH)
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clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.fighting,clari.news.europe,clari.news.gr
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Subject: Turkish mission to hold talks with Iraqi Kurdish leaders
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, fighting,
	general ethnic, special interest, politics
Date: 5 Nov 92 16:16:51 GMT
Location: turkey, iraq
ACategory: international
Slugword: turkey-kurds
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 509; Id: a0577; Sel: na--i; Adate: 11-5-1110aes; Ver: 5/0
Codes: &igfrxx., &if.rtu., &ijeriq., &ip.rtu., //na--i/, na--i


	ATHENS, Greece (UPI) -- A two-man Turkish delegation headed for
northern Iraq Thursday for discussions with Iraqi Kurdish leaders as
military operations against Turkish rebels in the area continued,
officials said.
	Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Dogan Gures told reporters his troops
were now turning their attention to the Shiva Valley, south of Hakurk,
where the borders of Iran, Turkey and Iraq meet, and could stay in
northern Iraq another two weeks.
	A Foreign Ministry spokesman said a two-man delegation from Ankara
headed for northern Iraq to hold discussions with the two main Iraqi
Kurdish leaders, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani.
	He did not say what would be discussed, but added that the mission
was carrying a message from Prime Minister Sulayman Demirel to the two
Iraqi Kurdish leaders.
	The latest moves followed reports from northern Iraq that Iraqi
Kurdish leaders were concerned about the continued presence of Turkish
troops in the territory.
	Earlier, Tehran radio quoted Iraqi opposition leaders as saying they
were concerned that the territorial integrity of Iraq was being
compromised by the Turkish incursion. They called on Turkey to withdraw
its troops as soon as possible, the radio said.
	Turkey sent thousands of troops into northern Iraq Oct. 16 to clear
the area of rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, a Turkish
rebel group which has used the territory as a springboard for attacks
inside Turkey.
	Within the first two weeks of the fighting, the Turkish forces
captured two major rebel bases, one each in Hakurk and the Haftanin
valley.
	Wednesday, Gures told reporters his troops could gain control of the
Shiva valley very shortly, and the operations in Turkey could end in two
weeks.
	Early this week, a spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, an
Iraqi Kurdish guerrilla group headed by Talabani, said Ankara turned
down a PUK proposal that the PKK rebels should be allowed to retreat
deeper into Iraq, after laying down their arms.
	The PUK made the proposal after holding discussions with PKK military
commanders in northern Iraq.
	The PKK spokesman said Talabani sent a message to Demirel on the
subject, but the Turkish government wanted the PKK rebels to surrender
to Turkish troops, after laying down their arms.
	The Iranian state radio said Iraqi Kurds have complained that Turkish
warplanes bombed Iraqi Kurdish villages during their operations, killing
many civilians.
	Thursday, in Ankara, government spokesman Akin Gonen said Turkey had
no territorial ambitions in northern Iraq, and its operations were aimed
only at clearing the territory of PKK rebels, who had used their bases
there to attack innocent people in Turkey.
	Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Gonen said the military
operations in northern Iraq would be completed in a few days. He said
the state called on the rebels to lay down their arms and surrender to
the authorities.
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