10-12-2007, 03:25 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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Super Moderator
Location: essex ma
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Quote:
Kurdish rebels try to head off Ankara offensive
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Friday October 12, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The main Kurdish rebel group, the PKK, tried to deflect a Turkish attack into its bases in northern Iraq by today claiming it was redeploying into Turkey.
Such a tactic would remove the main reason for the Turkish government to mount a cross-border attack into Iraqi Kurdistan.
But the government in Ankara is likely to treat the PKK statement with scepticism: such a redeployment could leave the PKK vulnerable to the Turkish forces massed along the border.
Article continues
The US government was today seeking to try to persuade Turkey against military action that could destabilise one of the few relatively peaceful regions in Iraq.
The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, kept up the bellicose rhetoric today, claiming the country was ready to pay any price for a military incursion, including jeopardising relations with the US.
The Turkish parliament is set to vote next week to give approval to the government to launch an attack. Mr Erdogan said: "If such an option is chosen, whatever its price, it will be paid."
The Turkish government and military want to move against PKK bases because of the rising death toll from attacks.
The PKK, classed as a terrorist group by the US and the European Union, is fighting for autonomy for Turkey's Kurdish population.
Reflecting the deterioration in US-Turkish relations this week, Mr Erdogan said Turkey did not need Washington's permission to attack PKK bases.
"Did they (the US) seek permission from anyone when they came from a distance of 10,000km and hit Iraq?" he said. "We do not need anyone else's advice."
He added: "We are making necessary preparations to be ready in case we decide on a cross-border operation since we don't have patience to lose more time."
The PKK statement published today taunted the Turkish government by insisting it would continue to attack government targets, including politicians.
But it portrayed its offensive as Turkish rather than Iraqi-based: "The source of this war is in north Kurdistan (eastern Turkey) ... the guerrillas are not moving to the south (northern Iraq); on the contrary they are moving to ... places in the north."
US-Turkish relations have been strained by a Congressional resolution this week potraying the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1917 as genocide.
The resolution was passed by a House of Representatives committee and is due to go to a full vote of the House and Senate.
As well as an attack into Iraq, Turkey could cancel defence contracts with the US and deny the US use of its ports and air space - an important route into Iraq.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/turkey/sto...190131,00.html
this is an interesting twist...
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