International   

Turkey bolsters forces on Iraq border amid tension

Pressure for cross-border offensive against Kurds

ANKARA: Turkey has sent large contingents of soldiers, tanks and armoured personnel carriers to reinforce its border with Iraq amid a heated debate over whether to stage a cross-border offensive to hit Kurdish rebel bases.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday urged the United States and Iraq to destroy bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq as the Turkish military deployed more tanks and soldiers on the border.

The images of military trucks rumbling along the remote border with Iraq's Kurdish zone and tanks being transferred on trains and trucks to reinforce an already formidable force there have dominated television screens and the front pages of several newspapers.

Unilateral action

The Turkish military has said it routinely reinforces the border with Iraq in the summer to prevent infiltration by the guerrillas.

``The PKK must be eliminated as a problem between Iraq and Turkey,'' Turkey's special envoy to Iraq, Oguz Celikkol, told CNN-Turk television on Wednesday after visiting Baghdad this week.

Asked whether Turkey could take unilateral action, Mr. Celikkol said: ``Our expectation is that this issue is resolved before it comes to that point.''

Mr. Erdogan did not rule out a cross-border Turkish operation.

``The target is to achieve results. Our patience has run out. The necessary steps will be taken when needed,'' he said.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday urged Iraq to take action. ``What we want from the Iraqi Government is to take necessary steps to stop the terrorists' activities by any means,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Bilman told reporters on Wednesday.

Asked whether Mr. Celikkol informed Iraqi authorities about the possibility of a cross-border Turkish operation, Mr. Bilman said: ``Such a decision is only Turkey's business, we do not have to inform anybody about the possibility of such an intervention.''

In the past, cross-border operations have yielded mixed results, with many guerrillas sheltering in hide-outs and emerging to fight again once the bulk of Turkish units withdrew from Iraq.

The Turkish military says up to 3,800 rebels are now based across the border in Iraq and that up to 2,300 operate inside Turkey.

Iraqi Kurdish groups who run the northern Iraq have threatened to resist a Turkish incursion. — AP

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Turkey bolsters forces on Iraq border amid tension
Court orders filing of charges against Erdogan
Lebanese President proposes "salvation cabinet"
Missile test adds to arms race fears
Move to resolve frozen funds issue
Brown under pressure to apologise for Iraq
Ceasefire agreement redundant: Sri Lanka
Thaksin banned from politics for 5 years
Bad weather hampers Nepal rescue
Man quarantined

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu