TURKEY WARNS IRAQ AHEAD OF INCURSION VOTE
Agence France Presse
Oct 16 2007
ANKARA (AFP) – Turkey on Tuesday told Iraq to crack down on Kurdish
rebels but an Iraqi leader warned that any Turkish incursion could
spill over into a wider conflict.
With Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi already in Ankara ahead
of a Turkish parliament vote on a motion allowing for cross-border
raids, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that Ankara’s
patience over the handling of Kurdish rebels had run out.
"The central government in Iraq and the (Kurdish) regional government
in northern Iraq must put a thick wall between themselves and the
terrorist organization," said Erdogan.
"Those who are unable to distance themselves from terrorism cannot
avoid being adversely affected by the struggle against terrorism,"
Erdogan told members of his ruling party.
Turkey says the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is tolerated by Kurdish
leaders in northern Iran and obtains weapons and explosives there
for attacks across the border.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the
international community, has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in
southeast Turkey since 1984. The conflict that has claimed more than
37,000 lives.
The Turkish parliament is expected to adopt a government motion
on Wednesday, allowing a one year authorisation for cross-border
operations against PKK bases.
Erdogan said the authorisation would not mean immediate military action
and an incursion would take place "if there is a need, at the right
time, at the right place and in a manner to obtain the best result."
Iraq and the United States have both urged Turkey not to follow
through with its threat.
Hashemi said after his arrival here he hoped to persuade the
authorities there is a diplomatic solution.
The Iraqi cabinet held and emergency meeting and Deputy Prime
Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd, said "any unilateral action by Turkey
in violation of Iraqi sovereignty will have very grave consequences
to Iraqi stability and to stability in the region as a whole."
"If Turkey, as a neighbour of Iraq, allows itself the right to
intervene militarily in Iraq, what is there to prevent other neighbours
from intervening?" Salih, who is in London for talks, told BBC radio.
"The Iraqi and Turkish governments can resolve this issue through a
common understanding," Anatolia news agency quoted Iraqi vice president
Hashemi as saying. "The solution reached at the end of the day must
serve both sides’ interests."
Hashemi met with Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, whose office
only said the two discussed "the presence of terrorists in northern
Iraq and the problems that this has created."
An emergency cabinet meeting in Baghdad decided to send a high-level
delegation to Ankara, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s office said in
a statement.
Maliki warned earlier that Iraq "will not accept military
solutions… even though we realise and understand the worries of
our Turkish friends."
The White House has urged Turkey to refrain from any unilateral action
that could further destabilise Iraq.
"We urge the Turks to continue their discussions with us and the
Iraqis," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
An exasperated Turkey says it left with no option other than military
action amid escalating PKK violence and what it sees as a lack of
cooperation by Washington and Baghdad to curb the rebels.
A Turkish soldier was killed Tuesday in the southeastern province of
Bingol in a landmine explosion blamed on the PKK, security sources
said.
The threat of a Turkish incursion coincides with a downturn in
US-Turkish relations over a pending Congressional vote on a resolution
labelling the World War I mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman
Empire as genocide.
Erdogan warned Tuesday of reprisals against its long-standing NATO
ally if the bill is adopted.
"Whatever damage Turkey suffers, its opponents will suffer ten-fold,"
he said.
Turkey and Iraq signed an accord last month to combat the PKK but
failed to agree on a clause allowing Turkish troops to engage in
"hot pursuit" — as they did regularly in the 1990s — against rebels
fleeing into Iraqi territory.