TURKEY/IRAQ: Iraqi government calls on Turkey not to use military force, to seek diplomatic solution to border crisis

Iraq's government urged Turkey on Monday not to resort to military action and to seek a diplomatic solution to end attacks by Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq. Turkey's cabinet asked parliament on Monday (October 15) for permission to launch cross-border operations on the separatists, who use the mountainous north of Iraq as a base for attacks in Turkey. "Our wish is not to use this motion. I hope we will not need this. But as all you know, the most painful reality of our country, our region is the reality of terror," government spokesman Cemil Cicek told a news conference after a cabinet meeting. Turkey's lira currency firmed against the dollar after Cicek's comments. Earlier it had lost around 2 percent amid concerns over a possible incursion into northern Iraq. The United States has urged Turkey, its NATO ally, to refrain from sending troops into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq, fearing this could destabilise the only relatively peaceful area of Iraq and potentially the wider region. But Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government is under heavy public pressure to take tough action after a series of deadly attacks on Turkish troops by rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who use northern Iraq as a base. Cicek said the motion, expected to be approved by parliament on Wednesday, would provide a legal basis for military action -- possibly several incursions -- over the period of one year. He stressed that Turkey's sole target, if its troops entered northern Iraq, would be the PKK militants, about 3,000 of whom are believed to be hiding in the mountainous region. Cicek repeated criticism of Iraq's failure, despite Turkish pressure, to take action against the PKK on its territory. He added that an Iraqi deputy state minister will hold talks in Ankara with Turkish officials on Tuesday.

ITN Source | October 16, 2007

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