Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan could launch anti-terror operations if the reports on the stationing of Kurdish rebel group PKK in the Armenia-occupied uncontrolled Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh region are confirmed, says vice-speaker and chairman of the parliamentary commission on security and defense.
Ziyafat Asgarov said that at a time world nations are fighting terror, Armenia's aiding extremists in their bid to build a stronghold in Upper Garabagh was "astounding".
Turkey's influential newspapers recently reported that PKK had decided to relocate to Garabagh after tensions escalated in northern Iraq with the launch of Turkey's battles against the extremists. Following the killings of scores of soldiers and civilians by PKK militants, Turkish troops crossed into Iraq and bombed a PKK camp using artillery and helicopters, inflicting significant losses on the rebels.
The PKK, which was earlier based in Syria and was driven out under Turkey's pressure, has now decided to withdraw from Iraq. The terrorists intend to first relocate to a European country and then to Upper Garabagh. PKK members have forged ties with the Armenian Diaspora to materialize the plan, the reports said.
The representative of Iraq's Kurdish authority in Europe Saywan Barzani has said that if the Turkish army carries out an incursion inside Iraq, military operations could spread to Azerbaijan.
The possibility of PKK's stationing in the occupied territories is high, a foreign ministry official said.
The ministry spokesman Khazar Ibrahim said PKK's attempts to relocate to Garabagh appeared plausible.
"So long as Azerbaijan is unable to control part of its territory, chances for such developments remain high," he said. "Moreover, considering the vast scale of the terrorist practices by Armenia, which currently controls these areas, the presence of a terror group there is possible."
Ibrahim warned that Baku would take adequate steps if the reports on PKK relocation were confirmed. He added that the accuracy of the reports, which had been publicized on various levels, was being verified.
Upper Garabagh is an Azeri region occupied by Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended separatist hostilities that killed an estimated 30,000 people and ousted about a million out of their homes. Peace talks are brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France.
PKK has long been using the South Caucasus as a stronghold for its illegal activities. In addition to drug trafficking, the outlaws are carrying out smuggling of laundered money in the region with the aid of ethnic Armenian terrorists, according to the reports. In the past years Armenians have arranged the settlement of a number of ethnic Kurds who come from Iraq and Syria in Upper Garabagh. PKK also runs a newspaper and a radio in the occupied Azeri region.
The Turkish media said PKK was actively involved in hostilities and acts of terror perpetrated by Armenia against Azerbaijan, alongside Armenian terrorist organization ASALA. In May-June 1992, 40 PKK terrorists took part in military action against Azerbaijanis in Upper Garabagh, the publications said. About 3,000 PKK rebels, seeking a separate Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey, operate in northern Iraq. Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since it began its armed struggle in 1984.