IRAQ: Kurds watch the border as Turkish Prime Minister says he will ask approval for Iraqi incursion

Iraqi Kurds near the Turkish border wait for news as Ankara mulls Iraq attack plan to fight PKK. Iraqis living near Turkey's borders waited for news from their neighbours on Thursday (October 11) after Turkey's prime minister said he will ask parliament next week to authorise a military push into north Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government will seek authorisation for the assault after a public holiday whichon Sunday (October 14), amid Turkish anger at a U.S. vote branding Ottoman Turk killings of Armenians genocide. Analysts say a large Turkish cross-border incursion remains unlikely, but Washington fears an offensive could destabilise Iraq's most peaceful area and potentially the wider region. The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved a resolution branding the killings genocide -- a charge Turkey hotly denies. The resolution was proposed by a politician with many Armenian-Americans in his district. The United States relies heavily on Turkish bases to supply its war effort in Iraq. Any Turkish offensive into neighbouring northern Iraq would seriously strain ties with Washington and possibly hurt Turkey's European Union accession bid. Ankara says 3,000 rebels from the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are based in northern Iraq from where they stage deadly attacks into Turkey. Erdogan has been under mounting pressure to act after 15 Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack by Kurdish rebels. Last Sunday's (October 7) attack in Turkey's Sirnak province was the deadliest single incident in 12 years. Two other soldiers died on Monday (October 8) in separate PKK landmine explosions. The previous week, 12 people, including village guards, died when PKK rebels ambushed their minibus in Sirnak province. Turkey's military has frequently called on the government to give them a green light to pursue the PKK -- which is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, Turkey and the EU -- into Iraq. But Kurdish villagers in Iraq say they are coming under fire already. "We call upon the Kurdistan government in the Iraqi government to stop these attacks, as these attacks have no reason. I do not know why they attacked us. There are only civilians in this area, no military men," said one man. Parliament, where Erdogan's ruling centre-right AK Party has a big majority, would have to grant permission for troops to cross the border into Iraq. Passing the measure would not automatically mean troops going into northern Iraq. Big incursions by Turkey in 1995 and 1997, involving an estimated 35,000 and 50,000 troops respectively, failed to dislodge the rebels. A senior Turkish diplomat told Reuters Ankara was disappointed with what he said was U.S. and Iraqi failure so far to stop the PKK.

ITN Source | October 12, 2007

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