Turkey to seek parliament approval for Iraq incursion

Turkey to seek parliament approval for Iraq incursion

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2007101...resterdogan;_ylt=ArX7MdlZ9P13I_AKHf8.T7EBxg8F

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government was likely to submit a motion to parliament Thursday seeking approval for an incursion into northern Iraq to pursue Kurdish rebels.

Erdogan, however, hinted that no immediate military action was planned.

"We could send the motion to parliament tomorrow," he said in an interview with CNN Turk television late Wednesday, adding that a vote on the motion was likely to take place next week.

He said the government was planning to seek a one year authorisation for an incursion into northern Iraq.

"It does not mean that everything will happen once we have the authorisation," he said. "We want to have the authorisation in hand so as to make a swift decision when it becomes necessary."

Under Turkish law, parliament must authorise any deployment of Turkish troops abroad.

Exasperated by mounting separatist Kurdish violence and Iraqi inaction against rebel bases, Ankara decided Tuesday to employ all measures, "including a cross-border operation if necessary," to combat the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Ankara says the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, enjoys free movement in northern Iraq and obtains weapons and explosives there for attacks across the border in Turkey.

It has accused the Iraqi Kurds, who run the region, of tolerating and even supporting the rebels.

Fifteen soldiers were killed in rebel attacks in southeast Turkey at the weekend, triggering a public uproar and increasing pressure on the government to take tougher action.

Erdogan expressed frustration with what Turkey considers the US failure to help end the PKK safe haven in northern Iraq.

A series of consultations between a US and a Turkish representative, appointed to coordinate joint efforts against the PKK "did not produce the expected results," he told CNN Turk.

"It turned out to be period of wasted time," he said. "They (the US) say they are against the PKK. If you are against, then you should do what is necessary."

The United States on Wednesday again warned its NATO ally against unilateral military action in northern Iraq.

The United States is concerned that such action will destabilise a relatively peaceful region of conflict-torn Iraq and fuel tensions between Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds, a staunch US ally.

The PKK has waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

 

Turkey escalates offensive near border

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_iraq;_ylt=AiMyFr9CGoAh1UNEGYumSDQBxg8F

SIRNAK, Turkey - Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships attacked suspected positions of Kurdish rebels near Iraq on Wednesday, a possible prelude to a cross-border operation that would likely raise tensions with Washington.

The military offensive also reportedly included shelling of Turkish Kurd guerrilla hideouts in northern Iraq, which is predominantly Kurdish. U.S. officials are already preoccupied with efforts to stabilize other areas of Iraq and oppose Turkish intervention in the relatively peaceful north.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that preparations were under way for parliamentary authorization of a cross-border operation, and told private CNN-Turk TV that the motion might reach Parliament on Thursday. The preparations "have started and are continuing," he said. An opposition nationalist party said it would support the proposal.

If parliament approves, the military could choose to launch an operation immediately or wait to see if the United States and its allies decide to crack down on the rebels, who have been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

"If you're against (the rebels), make your attitude clear and do whatever is necessary," Erdogan said in comments directed at Washington. "If you cannot do it, then let us do it."

Turkey and the United States are NATO allies, but relations have also been tense over a U.S. congressional bill that would label the mass killings of Armenians by Turks around the time of World War I as genocide.

President Bush strongly urged Congress to reject the bill, saying it would do "great harm" to U.S.-Turkish relations. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that 70 percent of U.S. air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkey, as does about a third of the fuel used by the U.S. military in Iraq.

"Access to airfields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would very much be put at risk if this resolution passes and Turkey reacts as strongly as we believe they will," Gates said.

Turkey has conducted two dozen large-scale incursions into Iraq since the late 1980s. The last such operation, in 1997, involved tens of thousands of troops and government-paid village guards. Results were inconclusive.

The latest Turkish military activity followed attacks by rebels that have killed 15 soldiers since Sunday.

Turkish troops were blocking rebel escape routes into Iraq while F-16 and F-14 warplanes and Cobra helicopters dropped bombs on possible hideouts, Dogan news agency reported. The military had dispatched tanks to the region to support the operation against the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which the U.S. has branded a terrorist organization.

Also Wednesday, assailants hurled a hand grenade at a police vehicle in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, killing a police officer and wounding four other people, according to reports and officials. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Kurdish rebels have carried out similar attacks.

Elsewhere, authorities detained 20 Kurds, including eight women, at the Habur border gate with Iraq, the Sirnak governor's office said. Two of the 20 were carrying false ID cards. The office said the suspects had attended a PKK meeting and that those attending were told to prepare for violence against government offices.

State-run Anatolia news agency said the suspects — most of them university students — were detained as they entered Turkey. Rebels often cross back and forth from bases in Iraq, using remote, mountain passes that are difficult to monitor.

Turkish military leaders have described an incursion as a necessary tactic to push back the rebels and disrupt their safe havens and supply lines. The government is also deeply frustrated at its inability to curb attacks by concentrating on operations within its own borders, and under pressure to show resolve to an outraged public.

But such an operation could harm relations with Washington, create instability across the border and destroy livelihoods in the poor region. Turkey provides electricity and oil products to the Iraqi Kurdish administration in northern Iraq, and the annual trade volume at Habur gate, the main border crossing, is more than $10 billion.

"If this border gate is closed because of war, then everybody in this region will suffer," said Mehmet Yavuz, a Turkish truck driver, hauling cement to the Iraqi Kurdish city of Irbil. "This border gate is daily bread for us."

 

The Turks have all the justification they need, the only thing that has kept them in check thus far has been in deference to U.S. sensitivities in Iraq.

 

Methinks it's good timing because the Turks are using this as leverage, and President Bush and his people are going almost all out to make sure that this non-binding resolution doesn't pass.

Do you think their timing is coincidental?

 

Probably because the Turks are extremely sensitive about this topic, and they don't want a major NATO ally (its biggest ally, actually) 'stabbing them in the back', so to speak. For the U.S., Turkey is a traditional ally with strong relations with another strong ally in the region, Israel.

But to answer your question, they care, deeply...