Iraqi parliament speaker says his country can't control Kurdish rebels

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Iraq's parliament speaker on Wednesday said his country cannot control the activities of Kurdish rebels but pledged to end any logistic support to the guerrilla group and seek a peaceful solution for the current standoff with Turkey. "When the Iraqi government becomes capable of controlling Baghdad's security, then the others can ask us to control the borders," Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani told reporters in Damascus after talks with his Syrian counterpart, Mahmoud al-Abrash. However, he said, "this doesn't absolve us from ... a national duty not to serve as a headquarters or to support, in any form, any organization that might harm any neighboring country."