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| Iraq |
| Turkey: PM warns of Iraqi incursion to target Kurdish militants |
| 2008-10-08 |
| (AKI) - Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Tuesday threatened to launch an incursion into northern Iraq to target Kurdish militants as the military bombed suspected terrorist bases in the region. He made the comment as Turkish warplanes bombed 21 bases allegedly linked to the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside the country and across the border in northern Iraq. It was the fourth round of raids by the Turkish military after PKK militants killed 17 Turkish soldiers near Semdinli in the country's southeast on Friday. The military said its fighter jets attacked 21 rebel positions early Tuesday in Iraq's Avasin Baysan region and Turkey's Iki Yaka and Buzul Dagi mountains that border Iraq. According to Turkish media reports, Erdogan warned that Turkey would launch an incursion into northern Iraq to target the PKK "if needed". "The sole target of a possible cross-border operation will be the terrorist organisation," Erdogan told members of the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party's parliamentary group in Ankara. "If need be, such an operation will not target either civilians or Iraq's unity and integrity," he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 ION TURKEY, TOPIX > TURKEY, AZERBAIJAN TO SPLIT GEORGIA INTO AUTONOMIES? Turkey, Azeri Govts insist and demand that Georgia become a FEDERAL-ORGANZ STATE into to protect the rights of Muslims + Turkic, Ajaria Minorities. AZERBAIJAN indics, iff necessary, it will be willing to send AZERI MILITARY FORCES INTO GEORGIA TO PROTECT THE ETHNIC AJARIA COMMUNITY. Also from TOPIX > TURKISH PRESIDENT GUL: CAUCASUS STABILITY CAN BECOME A GATE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-10-08 22:47 |
| #2 The Kurds living in northern Iraq aren't terribly fond of the PKK (communists), but they're "family". They certainly don't like the Turks. Iran, as usual, is the "unindicted co-conspirator" in this battle, but little is said about them. Something definitely needs to be done, but it's something that's going to have to transcend four or five different political boundaries, and that's not going to be easy to do. The Kurds also have a long memory of prior promises not kept, and real grievances with the governments of all the involved states. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-10-08 15:55 |
| #1 I wonder if we are pre-notified by the Turks so we accidentally don't happen to be watching (and shooting) when these incursions happen. The PKK is not exactly our insurgency of choice. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-10-08 07:36 |