Turkey says ready to send troops into N.Iraq

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

Turkey says ready to send troops into N.Iraq By Hidir Goktas and Gareth Jones
31 minutes ago



ANKARA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan gave the green light on Tuesday for a possible military incursion into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels hiding there after a series of deadly attacks on Turkish security forces.

Erdogan is under heavy pressure from Turkey's powerful army and opposition parties to take tough action against rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) after they shot dead 13 soldiers on Sunday near the Iraqi border.

Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said Turkey's parliament would need to authorize any large-scale military operation -- a scenario most analysts say remains unlikely -- but he said such permission was not required for limited, "hot pursuit" raids.

Washington has urged Turkey, a NATO ally, not to take military action in mainly Kurdish northern Iraq, fearing this could destabilize the most peaceful region in the country.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071009/wl_nm/turkey_iraq_dc

[Jim__]

1. Just what we need!

Invade Iraq and democracy will break out across the Middle East. Great plan bush.

[shain from kane]

2. "...destabilize the most peaceful region in the country." I guess everything is relative. n/t

[MADem]

3. Kurdistan IS the most peaceful region in the country. You'd never know there was a war on

if you didn't turn on the TV in most parts of the region. The lights work, the phone works, the shops are well stocked, and people aren't afraid to go about their business. Kurdistan is working. It's the rest of the nation that isn't.

[Tempest]

5. It's peaceful if you don't consider the support of the PKK

Turkey will put an end to that.

[MADem]

7. The PKK doesn't just run to Iraqi Kurdistan.

It's an easy prance over by Lake Van to Iran, as well. All they have to do is get up in the Zagros, and good luck to anyone trying to find them. That's inhospitable territory -- if you don't know what you are doing.

Funny, though, I don't see Turkey waving the sabre at Iran's Kurds...yet.

[Tempest]

8. The attacks are taking place

Just across the border from Iraq.

It's doubtful the PKK are traveling from Iran, through Iraq to the southern border to stage their attacks.

[MADem]

10. Actually, they could very well be hiding out in Iran, up and over the Zagros

It doesn't make sense to hang around waiting for the Turks to come after you. I can't see the Barzanis going along with that. They've got quite the economy going on nowadays--they don't want trouble and may well want a little plasible deniability. The Turks want to team with the Iranians to go after the PKK, and that's problematic for those caught in the middle as well.

It is not entirely implausible that they just may have taken the long way round, given the security zones making it harder to cross from Iraq to Turkey:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gLEQSCheDKDw1Z0y3pkp_6kPcaYA

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AFP) — More buffer zones designed to prevent Kurdish rebels crossing over the border to and from Iraq have been established in southeastern Turkey, the Turkish military said Saturday.

The 27 zones set up in the regions of Sirnak, Siirt and Hakkari add to others created in June, the military said in a statement posted on its official website.

They are to stay in place until December 10 and are aimed at stopping the flow of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels using northern Iraq as a rear base for operations for southern Turkey, it said.

At the same time, security officials in the southeast said a big army sweep was underway to find Kurdish rebels who used heavy weapons to attack a military post in Baskale, near the border with Iran. A soldier was killed in the attack.

Turkey, the European Union and the United States consider the PKK a terrorist organisation. More than 37,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 to fight for an independent Kurdish state.

[progressoid]

4. Huh, who wudda thunk it?

[lovuian]

6. Its been coming for quite awhile

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AH-IjStfVBs

This has to be one of the most controversial videos
the Kurds and Turkey are quite angry

[PassingFair]

9. Who could ever have foreseen? nt