By Xinhua
Damascus : Syria and Iran voiced here Monday their willingness to defuse through a political solution a crisis between Turkey and Iraq over the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK)based in northern Iraq.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and his visiting Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki made the stance at a joint press conference while talking about the tensions along the Turkish-Iraqi borders as Ankara moves to launch cross-border operation against PKK militants.
“The Iranians have initiated efforts which complement those of Syria, because we want to give a political solution a chance,” Muallem told the reporters.
For his part, Mottaki said the PKK terrorists threaten not only Turkey but also Iran and Syria, and their “terrorist operations from the north of Iraq create a destabilizing effect throughout the region”.
He, meanwhile, noted that common views between Tehran and Damascus would help resolve regional issues and restore durable peace to the Middle East region, describing his talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as “very good”.
Mottaki arrived in Damascus earlier in the day for a day-long visit to Syria.
Tension along the Iraqi and Turkish borders remained high after the Turkish parliament approved last week a motion backing cross-border military operations targeting the PKK based in northern Iraq.
The PKK has increased its attacks on government troops in southeastern Turkey, which has led to rising Turkish demands for an incursion into northern Iraq to crush the rebels based there.
The group, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking decades of strife that has claimed more than 30,000 lives.