SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — While Turkey is trying to involve the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in its cross-border military operations in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region to expel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerillas from their strongholds in the Qandil Mountains, both the PKK and the KDP say they are open to dialogue for resolving their issues peacefully.
The PKK is a leftist Kurdish political party formed in the late 1970s by Abdullah Ocalan (now imprisoned by Turkey) to gain autonomy for the Kurdish people in southeastern Turkey. In 1984, the PKK launched an armed resistance against Turkish military forces. The party is considered to be a terrorist organization by Ankara, Washington and the West.
The KDP, a Kurdish political party that promotes nationalism, is led by former Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani. It was founded by his father, Mustafa Barzani, in 1946. As the winner of Sept. 30 parliamentary elections, the KDP and the Barzanis have a tight grip on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the region’s presidency, judiciary, security apparatus, oil and the mainstream media.
Following the Huqqabaz restaurant shooting that killed a Turkish diplomat in Erbil last month, the Kurdistan Region Security Council released videotaped confessions of some suspects who claimed the shooting was planned by the PKK. The PKK denied any connection to the shooting, but applauded it..
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