TURKEY: Turkish Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin criticises U.S. President George W. Bush's comment over a potential military operation in northern Iraq

Turkey's justice minister said on Thursday (October 18) that no one has a right to criticise Turkey's intentions to mount a military operation in northern Iraq. Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin responded to pressure from U.S. President George W. Bush, who on Wednesday urged Turkey not to proceed with the operation, by saying that Turkey would be exercising the same international rights to enter Iraq, as those exercised by the U.S. in entering Afghanistan. "Turkey is using the same international rights and authority which were used by those who entered Afghanistan by linking responsibility for the attacks on the twin towers to some organisations in Afghanistan" said Sahin. In a news conference, U.S. President George W. Bush had said that the U.S. is making it very clear to Turkey that it is not in Turkish interests to send troops into Iraq. The comment came after Ankara's parliament gave permission on Wednesday for an attack on separatist rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who use northern Iraq as a base. Since the late 1990s, Turkey has kept small deployments of troops in border areas of northern Iraq, but the presence has been largely discreet and low key. A recent sharp rise in PKK killings has put Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan under pressure to launch a major operation Washington fears could unleash chaos in the region. An incursion could stir ethnic conflict in the mainly Kurdish north, endanger oil supplies and deepen U.S. problems in the rest of Iraq. Turkey says parliament's vote does not mean any attack is imminent. Erdogan said this week he hoped the problem of about 3,000 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels could be solved without any incursion.

ITN Source | October 18, 2007

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