Observer photo by Caine O’Rear.
Ali Al-Dabbagh, chief spokesman for the Iraqi government, spoke on the state of U.S.-Iraqi relations Tuesday at Katzen Arts Center. Al-Dabbagh said the majority of Iraqis rejected a proposal to partition the country based on sect.

by LISA TANGER

An Iraqi government spokesman pleaded for Turkish cooperation against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, on Tuesday during a speech at American University. Dr. Ali al-Dabbagh’s speech came on the heels of guerrilla-style attacks by PKK members that killed 12 Turkish soldiers. The attack incited mass demonstrations of Turkish nationals in cities across Turkey. The Associated Press estimates 10,000 mourners attended a soldier’s funeral in Keskin, Turkey on Tuesday.

“There is a great effort by the Iraqi government to have this problem solved in a peaceful way, rather than have a military offensive. We urge the Turkish government not to take such a step. We are asking them not to think crossing the border or taking a military stance will solve the problem,” al-Dabbagh said.

He said the Turkish foreign minister met with Iraqi officials in Baghdad on Tuesday and agreed to follow peaceful steps in order to eliminate the threat. He described the Iraqi-Turkish border as a very rough area similar to Afghanistan, and said a military strike alone could not remove the PKK from the region.

“We are ready to negotiate any steps with our neighbor Turkey. We do not exclude anything. We are not accepting a unilateral step from Turkey. The last steps should be military,” al-Dabbagh said.

When asked why the Iraqi government is not self-funding its infrastructure needs through national oil resources, al-Dabbagh said the oil industry has been destroyed by the current conflict.

“Definitely there are a lot of resources inside Iraq. We are passing through a very difficult situation. The oil industry has been destroyed, not because of the Iraqi people, but because of a dictator who presented a threat to the United States,” al-Dabbagh said.

Al-Dabbagh said he envisions American financial and military support to diminish over the next four to five years.

“Iraq won’t need that much more support. We are talking about only a military budget. The United States had helped Europe in the Marshall Plan. The U.S. needs stability in Iraq. We need to get Iraq out of this chaos,” al-Dabbagh said.

In an interview with the American Observer, al-Dabbagh said the Iraqi government will participate in discussions with presidential candidates prior to the 2008 elections as a matter of “friendship.”

“This is a choice of the Americans. We respect whenever they come. On a stage, we treat [the president] as a representative of the United States people. When he is being changed with another, we will deal with the other,” al-Dabbagh said.

The spokesman said the Iraqi government treats national reconciliation as a strategic project requiring a strategic plan. He said the Iraqi people have rejected the idea of a soft partition, a plan supported by presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., in which the various religious sects within Iraq would have regional authority within a larger federal system.

“We don’t have a choice; we have to reconcile. This is like a house, we have to live with each other. Iraqis say no, we want to live together. This is our country, we have to share,” said al-Dabbagh.