Garnik Asatryan: Turkey and Iran share a common threat, Kurdish problem

PanARMENIAN.Net -
There is a problem Tehran and Ankara have common interests in its solution: the Kurdish problem, head of the Department for Iranian Studies at Yerevan State University professor Garnik Asatryan told a press conference today. “Both countries treat the Kurdistan Workers Party (CRE) the same way: the Kurdish problem is a common threat to these countries and is a unifying factor," the scholar said.



In relation to Iran's position to the regional activity of Turkey, the professor said, that Iran and Turkey have always been rivals in the region. With regard to the Turkic-speaking population of Iran, Garnik Asatryan stressed, that there are around 33 ethnic groups in Iran. "Iran is a multiethnic country. There are no national minorities. Turkic-speaking population reaches 9-10 million in the country. All of them are Iranians, but they speak Turkish dialect, " Garnik Asatryan said. According to him, the Western forces, as well as Azerbaijan, often used this factor to encourage separatist moods in Iran.



The Kurdistan Workers' Party, best known as PKK, is a Kurdish separatist organization which launched an armed struggle against Turkey which claimed over 45,000 lives within a 20 year long activity period. The group was founded in the late 1970s and led by Abdullah O"calan. The PKK's ideology is founded on revolutionarysocialism and Kurdish nationalism. The PKK's goal has been to create an independent, Kurdish state in Turkey. Kurdistan is a geographical region that comprises parts of southeastern Turkey, northeastern Iraq, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran, where the Kurdish population is the majority. This goal has now been moderated to claiming cultural and political rights for the ethnic Kurdish population in Turkey. Since 1978, the PKK has been engaged in armed conflict with the Turkish state. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization internationally by a number of states and organizations, including the United States, United Nations, NATO and theEuropean Union. The organization is listed as one of the 12 active terrorist organizations in Turkey as of 2007 according to the Counter-Terrorism and Operations Department of the Turkish police. Turkey labeled the organization as an ethnic secessionist organization that uses terrorism and the threat of force against both civilian and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal.



Kurdish politician Abdu"lmelik F?rat claims that Democratic Society Party (DTP) was founded by PKK, and that 80 percent of Kurds do not vote for this party. However, senior DTP leaders maintain that they support a unified Turkey within a democratic framework. Aysel Tug(luk published an article in Radikal in May 2007 as the co-president of DTP, to prove that claim.