Turkey Launches Ground Operation in Iraq (Escalating Conflict With Kurd Rebels)

[sabra]

Source: ABC News/AP

Turkey Launches Ground Incursion Into Iraq, Escalating Conflict With Kurd Rebels

Turkish troops launched a ground incursion across the border into Iraq in pursuit of separatist Kurdish rebels, the military said Friday a move that dramatically escalates Turkey's conflict with the militants.

It is the first confirmed ground operation by the Turkish military into Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. It also raised concerns that it could trigger a wider conflict with the U.S.-backed Iraqi Kurds, despite Turkey's assurances that its only target was the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The ground operation started after Turkish warplanes and artillery bombed suspected rebel targets on Thursday, the military said on its Web site. The incursion was backed by the Air Force, the statement said.

Turkey has conducted air raids against the PKK guerrillas in northern Iraq since December, with the help of U.S. intelligence, and it has periodically carried out so-called "hot pursuits" in which small units sometimes spend only a few hours inside Iraq.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4328426

[NashVegas]

1. Mods

This is different from the other Iraq / Turkey story in that this includes some 10k Turkish troops whom I think are not surrounded.

[maddezmom]

2. thanks, I was just checking

for dupes. :hi:

[pinniped]

3. No, not the Kurds!

These Kurds are the official BS reason that asshole* invaded Iraq.

If there were oil infrastructure in that specific northern region, Turkey wouldn't stand a chance.

[maddezmom]

4. Turkish PM says briefed Bush on Iraq land offensive

ANKARA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he had spoken by telephone on Thursday night with U.S. President George W. Bush about Turkish troops' land offensive into northern Iraq.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2271524.htm

[maddezmom]

5. US playing it down: Only "few hundred" Turk troops said in N.Iraq

Only "few hundred" Turk troops said in N.Iraq 22 Feb 2008 14:34:33 GMT
BAGHDAD, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Only a "few hundred" Turkish soldiers are taking part in an operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, a senior military officer with coalition forces based in Baghdad said on Friday.

"Much less than a single battalion -- a few hundred, at most -- (of) Turkish soldiers have actually entered Iraq as we have the ability to see what is happening," the officer, who declined to be identified, said in a statement to Reuters.

A senior Turkish military source earlier told Reuters that thousands of Turkish troops had crossed the border into Iraq to hunt down Kurdish PKK guerrillas in the largely autonomous region of Kurdistan.

But the coalition military officer in Baghdad said the incursion was on a much smaller scale.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22806503.htm

[cal04]

6. Turkey reminded to respect sovereignty, offensive to last 15 days

IRAQ'S Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki urged his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to respect Iraqi sovereignty as Ankara's troops entered northern Iraq to hunt separatist Kurds.

Maliki reminded Erodgan in a telephone call of "the need to respect Iraq sovereign authority," according to Maliki spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh.

He also noted that the Iraqi government "supports Turkish security and safety, and acknowledges that the PKK is a threat to Turkey and its border areas".

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23262353-5005962,00.html?from=public_rss

Turkey's N.Iraq offensive to last 15 days-TV
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ANK000376.htm

[primavera]

19. So can Iraq call upon * for protection from invading Turks?

After all, the shrub tells us everyday how Iraq is a sovereign, democratic state. If that sovereignty is being unlawfully violated by foreign invaders, who is going to protect them, I wonder?

[LynnTheDem]

7. Turkey conducted air raids...with the help of US intelligence...against the Kurds. Sounds like

the Iraq-Iran war all over again.

Same SOP that kicks America in the teeth every time.

[uppityperson]

8. k&r

[lligrd]

9. Turkish troops launch Iraq offensive

Source: AFP

ANKARA (AFP) - The Turkish army launched a ground offensive into northern Iraq to hunt down Kurdish rebels, drawing an angry response Friday from Iraqi leaders and a call for restraint from Washington.

With Iraqi leaders summoning Turkey's charge d'affaires in Baghdad to protest against the operation, Turkish leaders were quick to give assurances about the nature and scope of the incursion.

"The target, purpose, size and parameters of this operation are limited," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. "Our armed forces will come back in the shortest time possible as soon as they achieve their objectives."

It was the second such incursion confirmed by the military since October, when the government won parliamentary approval to enter Iraq to attack Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants based there.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080222/ts_afp/turkeykurdsunrestiraq_080222175646;_ylt=Aq6jDaOXK_Kzy7WkghnSWjGs0NUE

---

Who could have forseen this happening? (sarcasm)

[Selatius]

10. The Kurds won't be occupied quietly. They'll fight tooth and nail. n/t

[ConcernedCanuk]

14. PNACers know that - that's why they are letting it happen.

.
.
.

They fed Saddam with weapons to eliminate them, Saddam failed.

So they trashed Iraq and executed Saddam,

And are gonna see if the Turks can do the "job"

There's a lot of oil at stake,

And the Creator made a mistake and put the USAmerican's oil in the wrong spot.

And bygawd, the USAmericans are gonna make sure that they correct gawdalmighty's mistake,

and get that oil flowing to Murikkka and its thirsty war-machine.

Kurds are just "collateral damage"

Sad state of affairs, us humans

(sigh)

[redqueen]

11. Yup... nobody could have possibly guessed this might happen...

heavens, no!

[Muttocracy]

12. Kerry, Biden and Hagel were on the way to Turkey today, right?

I havent' heard them mentioned in any of the Turkey stories today - anybody know if they're in Ankara now?


And check out the snowy rock camouflage!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7258323.stm

[ConcernedCanuk]

13. Didn't the USA give weapons to Saddam to eliminate the Kurds in years past?

.
.
.

And then they made a point to get Saddam executed for it?

Now they are allowing the Turkish to do the same thing?

Did I miss something?

[primavera]

20. Actually, it was to eliminate the Iranians

Rumsferatu gave Saddam gas weapons to be used against the Iranians in Iraq's war with Iran, which also had gas weapons. In a border skirmish between the two sides, a Kurdish town got caught in the crossfire. Since both sides were using gas weapons in the battle, no one's ever been able to say for sure whether it was Iranian gas or US gas from Iraqi artillery that killed all of the Kurds in the town. At the time of the incident, because everyone knew it was our gas that the Iraqis were using, the US actually went to some pains to pin the episode on the Iranians, and built this whole PR case about how it was really Iranian gas that was responsible for the deaths, not US weapons in Iraqi hands. Of course, when it came time to fabricate a justification for invading Iraq ourselves, we got conveniently selective amnesia about the episode and it became an indisputable historical "fact" that Saddam had gassed his own people. Kind of makes you wonder how we'll re-write history tomorrow.

[ConcernedCanuk]

24. Ok, thanks for clearing up the PNACers muddy agenda!

.
.
.

[freedomnorth]

15. 'Dozens dead' in Turkish assault

Turkey's army says its ground offensive in northern Iraq has left five soldiers and dozens of Kurdish rebels dead.

(snip)

A Turkish army statement said: "It has been understood from preliminary information that the terrorists have suffered heavy losses under long-range weapons fire and air strikes."

It said that 24 Kurdish rebels had been killed in clashes, and at least another 20 by artillery fire and rounds from helicopter gunships.

A Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) spokesman, Ahmad Danas, earlier said two Turkish troops were killed and eight wounded in fighting.

Neither report can be independently confirmed.

(more at link)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7260119.stm

[cal04]

16. Turkish raids kill dozens in Iraq; Zebari warns of destabilisation

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080223/wl_afp/turkeykurdsunrestiraq_080223190230

Turkish troops killed 35 Kurdish militants and destroyed rebel hideouts in northern Iraq on Saturday, as Iraq's foreign minister warned the three-day-old offensive risked destablising the region.

(snip)
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned in a BBC interview that Turkey's ground offensive should end quickly before it destabilises the region.

"This is a limited military incursion into a remote, isolated and uninhabited region," Zebari said.

"But if it goes on, I think it could destabilise the region, because really one mistake could lead to further escalation."

[lovuian]

17. OUR Allies are under attack

obviously Bush doesn't know which Ally is his

[eringer]

18. US playing it down: Only "few hundred" Turk troops said in N.Iraq

That is BS. Condi can't do a thing to Turkey because they are not doing anything that we haven't already done in Iraq. WHAT A MESS!!!

[Bilbo Heugan]

21. How long till the Turks control Kurdish oil? nt

[ohio2007]

22. Kurdish rebels say have bodies of 15 Turkish troops ( Turkey gets burned )

snip
Source: Reuters
ZAKHU, Iraq, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Kurdish PKK guerrillas said on Saturday they had recovered the bodies of 15 of the 22 Turkish soldiers they say they have killed in clashes since Turkey launched an offensive against them.

The rebels had also begun planning reprisal attacks on Turkish soil, a spokesman for the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said.

"There are 22 Turkish soldiers that have been killed and our soldiers have the bodies of 15," Ahmed Danees, head of foreign relations for the PKK, told Reuters by telephone, adding they would soon release the names of those killed.
snip

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23293101.htm

Time to escalate ?

[bhikkhu]

25. Not ever, not a chance.

The Kurds are well positioned and well armed (the regional Kurdish government, that is, not the PKK) and any reading of recent history would say that Turkey has no long term goals here - they are playing defense, not offense.

[roamer65]

23. The regional ME war is coming.

Zbigniew Brzezinski was right.