Turkey weighs Nthn Iraq raids tofight Kurdish rebels-11Oct07

Turkey risks angering Western allies on the northern Iraq front. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, is set to ask parliament to approve a full-scale invasion of northern Iraq. The target - Kurdish fighters. Ankara blames them and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers party, or PKK, for more than 30 killings over the past two weeks. Turkish troops are currently patrolling roads in the South of the country near the Iraqi border. They are getting ready for operations against Kurdish separatist fighters - operations that could see these soldiers cross the border and confront the Kurds in their strongholds within Iraq. This is the warning given by Erdogan, suggesting it's just a matter of time. He says: "After the holiday we will get the authority from the Parliament. Though it will be a limited one, for one year. During this year, we are going to pass on this authority to our security forces as soon as it becomes necessary." Ankara has accused Kurdish rebels and the PKK for a murderous grenade attack on Wednesday in the Southern Turkish city of Diyarbakir. This attack, along with a gunning down of 13 Turkish soldiers in an PKK ambush on Sunday, seems to have given Turkish lawmakers a sense of urgency. But Kudish leaders warn that a Turkish offensive within Iraq will not go unchallenged. Tareq Ahmed, adviser to the Iraqi parliament speaker, says: "I don't think there will be a Turkish incursion and if it will happen it won't be easy and it will face a strong resistance and we won't receive them with roses and welcomes. The Peshmurga and Kurdish people will repulse them. The central government should defend Iraq and resist aggression." Turkish troops have been attacking various Kurdish separatist strongholds in Turkey. Their ongoing battle has lasted over 30 years. Turkey claims the PKK are responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people. Now, there's growing public demand for an offensive against the Kurds to cross the border. Demonstrations are letting authorities know they hold the PKK responsible for the killing of loved ones and want their government to retaliate. While both the EU and the US have the PKK listed as a terrorist organisation, there is ever mounting concern of Turkish military operations within Northern Iraq. Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief, says: "I think that any possibility of a complicated even more the security situation in Iraq is something that should not be welcomed. And, therefore, I imagine that we pass our Turkish friends in that direction" Already besieged by a bloody war, Iraq may now find itself entangled in another conflict on a new front.

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YouTube | October 11, 2007

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