5 March 2008 | Servet Yanatma

An Iranian official has said his country could play a positive role in improving dialogue between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdish leadership in countering terrorism and insisted that the Kurdish leaders do not support the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"We have a very special relationship with them. We see each other as friends. We have economic, political and cultural ties," Iranian Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Alireza Sheikh-Attar told Today's Zaman in an interview, referring to the Iraqi Kurdish leaders -- namely Massoud Barzani, who heads the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, and Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president.

He declined to comment when asked whether Turkey has made any requests of Iran to press the Kurdish leadership to classify the PKK as a terrorist organization, but noted: “We have good relations with both sides. We can play a constructive role. We are ready for this.”

Noting that he had served in northern Iraq as a diplomat, Sheikh-Attar said, “I am sure that they have never supported terrorism.”

Turkey accuses Iraqi Kurds of supporting the PKK and refuses to engage in dialogue with Barzani. The Kurdish leader has so far refused to designate the PKK as a terrorist organization while saying the problem of the PKK cannot be resolved through military means.

Sheikh-Attar said Barzani’s stance on terrorism is clear, adding that Iran does not feel the need to question why the Kurdish leader refuses to recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization.

The Turkish military launched a ground offensive against the PKK in northern Iraq on Feb. 21 and announced that it had destroyed dozens of PKK targets and killed at least 240 terrorists before the operation was called off on Feb. 29. Sheikh-Attar met with President Abdullah Gül and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan during a visit to Turkey on Monday and Tuesday and was briefed by the Turkish officials on the operation. He said Iran supports Turkey’s fight against terrorism while noting that Ankara should keep in mind in the course of its anti-terror fight that Iraq is a sovereign nation.

Iran is fighting an offshoot of the PKK called the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK). Tehran has long accused the United States of supporting anti-Iranian groups. Sheikh-Attar repeated Iranian accusations directed at the US and claimed that Washington was the source of the problem of terrorism. “Why has the United States failed to take action against the PKK for so many years?” he asked.

Ahmadinejad to visit Turkey soon

The visiting official also said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who paid a landmark visit to Baghdad this weekend, will soon visit Ankara. The Iranian leader received an invitation from Ankara and officials of the two countries are still working on determining a date, he said.

According to Sheikh-Attar, Ahmadinejad is likely to visit Turkey before June. “In the worst case, he will visit Turkey before the end of this year,” he noted.