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TURKISH PM SAYS WILL ACT WHEN TIME IS RIGHT
By Paul de Bendern
Malaysia Star, Malaysia
Oct 17 2007
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on
Tuesday that securing permission from parliament to launch a major
attack on Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq did not necessarily
mean a military incursion was imminent.
Instead, Erdogan said "we will act at the right time and under the
right conditions".
"This is about self-defence," he told his ruling AK Party.
The prospect of a strike into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq helped
push oil prices towards a record high $88 a barrel. The Turkish lira
traded down almost 2 percent against the dollar.
Baghdad sent Sunni Arab Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi to Ankara and
called for urgent talks to head off military action that Washington
fears could sow chaos in an area so far spared much of the carnage
afflicting other parts of Iraq.
Erdogan's cabinet asked parliament this week for permission to launch
cross-border offensives following a spate of Kurdish separatist
attacks. Approval is expected on Wednesday.
Washington has urged restraint on Turkey, strategically located between
Europe and the Middle East. It relies on Turkey for logistical support
for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Turkey, for its part, argues that the United States and Iraq have
done too little to curb some 3,000 Kurdish rebels attacking eastern
Turkey in pursuit of an independent state there.
PRESSURE TO ACT
Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed in recent weeks
by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels, piling pressure on the
government to act.
The Turkish military has long called for permission to hunt down PKK
rebels in Iraq.
Under heavy security, General Ilker Basbug, head of the land forces,
inspected units stationed in the Turkish border province of Sirnak,
which has been hardest hit by recent PKK attacks.
A paramilitary officer became the latest casualty when he stepped on
a rebel-laid mine, security sources said.
Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since
it launched its armed struggle in southeast Turkey.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for a "crisis cell" in
the government established to monitor developments along the Turkish
border to meet on Tuesday.
"We are ready to have urgent talks with senior officials in the Turkish
government to discuss all the pending issues and to give guarantees
which would regulate relations between the two neighbouring countries,"
Maliki's office said in a statement.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres
warned of the danger of a refugee crisis in northern Iraq in the
event of a Turkish operation.
Some analysts and diplomats say an operation is more likely after a
vote last week in which a U.S. congressional committee branded killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One as genocide --
a charge Turkey denies.
"There is no formal linkage (between the Armenian bill and an
Iraq operation) except psychological," Brent Scowcroft, a former
U.S. national security council adviser, told Reuters.
"I hope we can work with the Turks to prevent this cross-border
operation. We have taken some steps but they have been inadequate."
Turkey recalled its ambassador from the United States for consultations
after the Congressional vote.
(Additional reporting by Hidir Goktas in Ankara, Daren Butler in
Sirnak, Ingrid Melander in Brussels and Baghdad bureau)
By Paul de Bendern
Malaysia Star, Malaysia
Oct 17 2007
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on
Tuesday that securing permission from parliament to launch a major
attack on Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq did not necessarily
mean a military incursion was imminent.
Instead, Erdogan said "we will act at the right time and under the
right conditions".
"This is about self-defence," he told his ruling AK Party.
The prospect of a strike into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq helped
push oil prices towards a record high $88 a barrel. The Turkish lira
traded down almost 2 percent against the dollar.
Baghdad sent Sunni Arab Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi to Ankara and
called for urgent talks to head off military action that Washington
fears could sow chaos in an area so far spared much of the carnage
afflicting other parts of Iraq.
Erdogan's cabinet asked parliament this week for permission to launch
cross-border offensives following a spate of Kurdish separatist
attacks. Approval is expected on Wednesday.
Washington has urged restraint on Turkey, strategically located between
Europe and the Middle East. It relies on Turkey for logistical support
for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Turkey, for its part, argues that the United States and Iraq have
done too little to curb some 3,000 Kurdish rebels attacking eastern
Turkey in pursuit of an independent state there.
PRESSURE TO ACT
Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed in recent weeks
by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels, piling pressure on the
government to act.
The Turkish military has long called for permission to hunt down PKK
rebels in Iraq.
Under heavy security, General Ilker Basbug, head of the land forces,
inspected units stationed in the Turkish border province of Sirnak,
which has been hardest hit by recent PKK attacks.
A paramilitary officer became the latest casualty when he stepped on
a rebel-laid mine, security sources said.
Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since
it launched its armed struggle in southeast Turkey.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for a "crisis cell" in
the government established to monitor developments along the Turkish
border to meet on Tuesday.
"We are ready to have urgent talks with senior officials in the Turkish
government to discuss all the pending issues and to give guarantees
which would regulate relations between the two neighbouring countries,"
Maliki's office said in a statement.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres
warned of the danger of a refugee crisis in northern Iraq in the
event of a Turkish operation.
Some analysts and diplomats say an operation is more likely after a
vote last week in which a U.S. congressional committee branded killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One as genocide --
a charge Turkey denies.
"There is no formal linkage (between the Armenian bill and an
Iraq operation) except psychological," Brent Scowcroft, a former
U.S. national security council adviser, told Reuters.
"I hope we can work with the Turks to prevent this cross-border
operation. We have taken some steps but they have been inadequate."
Turkey recalled its ambassador from the United States for consultations
after the Congressional vote.
(Additional reporting by Hidir Goktas in Ankara, Daren Butler in
Sirnak, Ingrid Melander in Brussels and Baghdad bureau)