Iran, Turkey agree to curb activiti

[PeaceNet Middle East Team]

From: <pnmideast>
Subject: Iran, Turkey agree to curb activiti

/* Written  9:31 am  Sep 15, 1992 by mtaghavi at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu in cdp:soc.culture.ir */
/* ---------- "Iran, Turkey agree to curb activiti" ---------- */

	ATHENS, Greece (UPI) -- Iran and Turkey agreed Tuesday to curb the
activities of dissident groups of either country on the other's
territory, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.
	The agreement came as Turkish Interior Minister Ismet Sezgin wound up
a five-day visit to Tehran for talks on joint border security following
reports that Kurdish separatist guerrillas recently launched attacks
inside Turkey from Iranian soil.
	An IRNA dispatch monitored in Athens said Sezgin and his Iranian
counterpart, Abdullah Noori, ``signed agreements on combatting terrorism
and drug trafficking'' along the border between the two countries.
	They also agreed to cooperate in safeguarding the security of border
posts, the news agency said.
	Tehran radio said the agreements were contained in a note of
understanding signed by the two interior ministers Tuesday, before
Sezgin left Tehran to return to Ankara.
	IRNA quoted Sezgin as saying ``his country would no longer allow
Iran's opposition to conduct counterrevolutionary activities from
Turkish soil.''
	But Sezgin denied that such Iranian rebel groups as the Komaleh
party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, the Mojahedin Khalq
organization and supporters of the former Iranian Crown Prince Reza
Pahlavi were active against Iran on Turkish soil.
	He reportedly said that ``even if they have a base (in Turkey) and
engaged in activities against Iran, Turkey will stop them.''
	For his part, the Iranian interior minister denied that guerrillas of
the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, a Turkish rebel group, used Iranian
soil to launch attacks against targets in Turkey.
	Noori said Sezgin ``raised two cases in this regard but after
investigations it became evident that Iran had no part in them.''
	Before Sezgin left Ankara last week, Turkish officials said he would
propose joint operations with Iran on border security, but added the
proposal would be made if he found the atmosphere of the talks to be
suitable.
	Neither Sezgin nor Noori, who held a press conference together
Tuesday, made any reference to joint border oeprations.
	IRNA said the two sides agreed to set up a 10-member joint committee
``to examine regularly the issue of opposition groups in either country,
'' at meetings to be held once a month alternatively in Tehran and
Ankara.
	Last month, a group of about 500 PKK rebels attacked a border post at
Semdinli, near the point where the borders of Iran, Turkey and Iraq
meet.
	Reports in Ankara said that after the attack, the group was seen
fleeing across the border into Iranian territory, where they boarded
waiting trucks and got away.
	After the incident, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian
charge d'affaires and protested that Iran was allowing the PKK to use
its territory.
	The PKK is a Marxist guerrilla group seeking to set up an independent
Kurdish state on Turkish soil. As of March this year, the group has
sharply stepped up its attacks on the Turkish security forces.


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