Turkish army says troops harassed in northern Iraq

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

ANKARA, June 2 (Reuters) - Turkey's military said late on Friday that its troops had been verbally harassed by local armed forces in northern Iraq and warned that any repeat incident would be met with a tough response.

The army chief of general staff said in a statement that vehicles carrying Turkish troops in civilian dress were stopped by armed local forces, who verbally abused the soldiers.

"This harassment and pointing of guns ended when it became evident that it was caused by a misunderstanding," it said, adding that the soldiers had returned safely to their base.

The army warned that any further harassment of its troops in northern Iraq, where Turkey has retained a small military presence since the Saddam Hussein era, would not be tolerated.

"The slightest unethical behaviour or activity will be deemed as made towards the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Armed Forces and will receive the utmost necessary response," the statement said.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02543811.htm

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PKK vows to resist any Turkish incursion
By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Writer
12 minutes ago



CIZRE, Turkey - The top commander of a Kurdish rebel group said his forces would resist any Turkish military incursion aimed at destroying rebel bases in northern Iraq, a news agency reported Saturday.

Turkey has been building up its military forces on the Iraqi border in recent weeks, amid debate among political and military leaders about whether to attack rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, who stage raids in southeast Turkey after crossing over from hideouts in Iraq.

Military experts say it is unlikely that a Turkish incursion would lead to a decisive victory over the PKK rebels.

"No one should expect us to extend our necks as sheep to be slaughtered in the face of an attack aimed at destroying us," Firat news agency quoted the rebel commander, Murat Karayilan, as saying.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070602/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_northern_iraq

[hobbit709]

1. The Turks are about as well liked

in the Kurdish area as we are in the middle of Fallujah-the difference is they haven't started shooting at them yet.

[Orrin_73]

3. north iraq is also home to a million or more Turkomans

ethnic Turks.

[Posteritatis]

2. It's almost - maybe - as if the locals don't want them there! (nt)

[ohio2007]

4. So, what the article is really saying is.....

Turkey has "boots on the ground" in Iraq.
Or at least that is how they are leading the reader to believe.

[amandabeech]

5. Later paragraphs in the article state that there are 1,000 Turkish troops

still in northern Iraq since the last "incursions" about a decade ago.

The Turks despise the Kurds, as my Turkish roommate often reminds me. The Turks are upset about the passage of a "sense of Congress" resolution a couple of months ago condemning Turkey for the Armenian massacre. Turks believe that the Armenians died of exposure and are very hot under the collar. Problems over the Kurds could make the animosity much worse. In which case, I'd move.

[Alameda]

8. PKK/Kurdistan

I don't know where you get off with saying the Turks despise the Kurds. It's not about Kurds, it's about the PKK who are a well recognized terrorist organization who kill Kurds, Turks and a whole lot of people. Most Turks of Kurdish ethnicity identify with being Turks. Kurds have full rights as citizens of Turkey and can and do serve in the military and high ranking government posts.

What it is about is resources, NOT ethnicity. Note...the headwaters of the Tigress and Euphrates start in Turkey. Look up maps of "Kurdistan" and "Armenia" and you will see they cover the same areas.

[amandabeech]

12. My roommate is Turkish.

I am parroting what she said, and I wish that she saw it your way.

Thank you for your alternate view, and I will check the maps.

She's very touchy on the Armenian issue, too. She went ballistic when Congress passed resolutions condemning Turkey. She asked me why the U.S. hated Turkey, and I explained that the vote probably had much more to do with payback to Armenian-Americans in Pelosi's district than to U.S. hatred for Turkey. I don't think that I need to mention that she thought that I was full of it on that one.

[sanskritwarrior]

6. Turks are stupider than we are

The Kurds are going to blast them.........HARD.......

[Orrin_73]

9. I doubt that

The Turks have some 200000 plus troops along the border and some more then a million sympathizers (Turkomans). Kurds now are in a very bad situation they are hated by almost anybody over there because of their support for the invasion of Iraq by the Americans. I would not be in their situation now.
The problem is not with the Kurds but with the pkk which has his own politics that is different then the other kurdish groups. The pkk has declared war on Turkey and Iran, both Turkey and Iran are now fighting the pkk in their countries.

[sanskritwarrior]

11. LOL I'm not talking PKK, I'm talking Iraqi Kurdish army,

an Army almost as well equipped as the Turks and with advatages of Terrain and US training.......I posted on my dealings with the Peshmerga a few days ago the Turks are about to walk into a buzzsaw..........

[amandabeech]

13. Would you please give a link to your post?

It sounds very interesting.

[Eugene]

7. Gates warns Turkey not to invade Iraq

Source: Associated Press

Gates warns Turkey not to invade Iraq

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
15 minutes ago

SINGAPORE - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday
cautioned Turkey against sending troops into northern
Iraq, as it has threatened, to hunt down Kurdish rebels it
accuses of carrying out terrorist raids inside Turkey.

"We hope there would not be a unilateral military action
across the border into Iraq," Gates told a news conference
after meetings here with Asian government officials. Turkey
and Iraq were not represented.

Gates said he sympathized with the Turks' concern about
cross-border raids by Kurdish rebels.

-snip-

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Saturday urged Turkey
not to stage a new incursion, saying his government will not
allow the relatively peaceful area of northern Iraq to be
turned into a battleground.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070603/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/gates

[4dsc]

10. Kurds have killed more Kurds than Saddam

Fighting between different Kurd groups have killed more Kurds than Saddam could have dreamed of.. I wonder if they would unite to fight the Turks??