PKK seen as obstacle to Kurdistan

ERBIL, Iraq, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The status of Kirkuk in northern Iraqi Kurdistan will never be settled until the Kurdistan Workers' Party is dealt with first, Kurdish supporters say.

The nationalist Kurdish movement in the region is struggling under the eye of the international community as the world's attention focuses on similar skirmishes, such as the conflict between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia.

The muddled political climate among Kurdish political parties, however, diminishes any real chance of establishing an autonomous Kurdish state and further inhibits the rights of its people, the Kurdish Globe said Thursday.

For this reason, the Globe said, controlling the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, is a key issue as Turkey, for its part, continues to destabilize Kurdish areas in its attempt to combat the separatist guerrilla movement.

Furthermore, annexing Kirkuk into the Kurdistan Regional Government will not be possible unless Turkey no longer has a reason to encroach on Kurdish territory in pursuit of PKK rebels, the paper said.