ISTANBUL - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called on Baghdad on Friday to shut down camps run by separatist Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and to hand over guerrilla leaders. “What will satisfy us is the closure of all PKK (rebel) camps, including their training facilities, and the handover of the terrorist leaders to us,” Erdogan told reporters after attending Friday prayers at an Istanbul mosque.Some 3,000 rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), including its leaders, are believed to be hiding in mainly Kurdish northern Iraq. Erdogan is under heavy public pressure to act against the PKK after a series of deadly attacks on Turkish troops.
The pro-Kurdish Firat news agency quoted one of Turkey’s most wanted rebel commanders on Friday as saying the PKK could target oil pipelines if Turkish forces attacked them in Iraq. “Since pipelines that cross Kurdistan provide the economic resources for the Turkish army’s aggression, it is possible the guerrillas target them,” Firat quoted Murat Karayilan saying.