TURKEY: Turkish army gets green light to hit rebels in Northern Iraq

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday his cabinet had authorised the armed forces to conduct a cross-border operation against Kurdish rebels in Northern Iraq. Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his cabinet on Friday (November 30) authorised the armed forces to conduct a cross-border operation against Kurdish PKK rebels in northern Iraq Erdogan's comments, following up on a parliamentary resolution last month and emergency talks with U.S. President George W. Bush, seemed chiefly designed to keep up pressure on U.S. and Iraqi forces to honour pledges to tackle the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). "We took our cabinet meeting decision on November 28 and with the president's approval our Turkish Armed Forces are now authorised for a cross-border operation from November 28," Erdogan said. Turkey has amassed up to 100,000 troops near the mountainous border, backed up by tanks, artillery and warplanes, for a possible strike into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq against rebels of the PKK hiding there. Ankara has made many threats of military action but, under heavy U.S. pressure, has so far shown restraint. Washington fears a large-scale operation could destabilise the most stable part of Iraq and possibly the wider region. Erdogan held emergency talks with Bush on November 5 in the White House, wringing from him pledges of closer cooperation, including more intelligence sharing against a group Washington also brands as dangerous. Three top U.S. generals have visited Ankara in the past 10 days to discuss intelligence sharing with the Turkish military. Northern Iraqi Kurdish authorities have also taken steps to stop supplies reaching the PKK rebels in the mountains. Turkey's parliament approved a resolution on October 17 giving the government the legal basis to order cross-border military operations if and when it deemed them necessary. That resolution is valid for one year. The cabinet decision this week effectively frees up the generals to act as they see necessary without seeking further political approval. The resolution, approved by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers, followed a series of deadly PKK attacks on Turkish security forces that fanned an angry wave of nationalism across Turkey, a NATO member that also wants to join the EU. The PKK is blamed by Ankara for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since the group began its armed separatist insurgency in 1984. KL/MV/JRC

ITN Source | December 1, 2007

Tags:. .strike. .fears. .prime. .army. .troops