Turkey, Italy to end Kurd refugee influx

Turkey, Italy to end Kurd refugee influx

ANKARA (AFP): Turkey said yesterday that it would cooperate with Italy to put an end to the influx of Kurdish immigrants arriving illegally in Italian ports.

"We are aware of the scale of the problem and are ready to cooperate fully with Italian authorities," Necati Utkan, spokesman for the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, said.

His comments came shortly after Italian police announced Saturday that a fresh group of 835 Turks or Iraqi Kurds had landed illegally on southern Italian shores from a grounded Turkish vessel, the Ararat.

This latest wave of arrivals prompted Germany's Social Democrat Party (SPD) yesterday to urge Italy to "secure its frontiers".

SPD foreign affairs spokesman Karsten Voigt told the German press that Kurds who were allowed to stay in Italy after entering illegally "should not be allowed to disappear two weeks later only to turn up in Germany or the Netherlands."

Currently, Italian regulations give identified immigrants a grace period of two weeks to leave Italy, but the time is often employed by the illegals to disappear underground, subsequently resurfacing in other European countries.

Close to 3,000 illegal Kurdish immigrants have breached Italian coastlines since the start of 1997.

Debate on a law to tighten the process is to resume in the Italian parliament next month.

Utkan said the waves of immigration were the result of "organized crime," adding that "our approach to the problem is serious".

He urged all sides to "square up to their responsibilities so as to help improve the situation".

But Utkan said the waves of Kurdish refugees were a problem "not just limited to countries in the region -- all the countries concerned should fulfill their obligations in this sphere, as much as Turkey".

The Turkish spokesman declined to comment on an appeal made Saturday by Italian Interior Minister Giorgio Napolitano for Turkey to "work seriously" to stop illegal immigration of Kurds from Turkey into Europe.

The world should "recognize the rights of the Kurdish people," said Napolitano.

Separatists have been fighting to establish their own homeland in southern Turkey for more than 13 years with more than 27,000 people killed in the conflict.