TURKEY WARNS IT DOESN’T NEED OK TO ATTACK KURDS
Joshua Partlow and Molly Moore, The Washington Post; with files from Agence France-Presse

Ottawa Citizen
Oct 26 2007
Canada

Continues to shell PKK to combat guerrilla violence

BAGHDAD – The Turkish military said it continued attacks yesterday
against Kurdish separatists in mountainous areas along the
Turkish-Iraqi border, as officials of the two countries and the
U.S. gathered to attempt to diffuse the crisis. Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated yesterday that his government does not
have "to seek anyone’s permission" to launch cross-border operations
into Turkey and criticized allies for refusing to do more to curb
the activities of the separatists. "The ball is in our court now
and we will have to do what is necessary on our own if those who
have the responsibility do not take action," Mr. Erdogan said in
Bucharest during a joint news conference with Romanian Prime Minister
Calin Popescu Tariceanu. Turkey has recently dispatched warplanes
and helicopters to its southern border with Iraq and shelled the
mountainous terrain in a growing effort to combat guerrillas from
the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, who have killed more than 40
Turkish soldiers, police and civilians in the past month and claim
to have taken eight soldiers hostage in an ambush earlier this week.

Turkey has threatened to invade Iraq to pursue the rebels, but
U.S. and Iraqi diplomats are working to prevent that outcome. An Iraqi
delegation led by Defence Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi arrived in
Ankara, the Turkish capital, for meeting with senior Turkish officials
to discuss the increasing tension, skirmishes and attacks along the
border. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Turkey is "expecting
them to come with concrete proposals, "otherwise, the visit will have
no meaning." "The political choice will be the first solution to solve
the crisis," Yassin Majid, a member of the Iraq delegation and an
adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters. "The
Iraqi government insists on dialogue and co-operation to solve the
crisis." The officials will conduct formal talks today. Mr. Erdogan
criticized Turkey’s European allies for failing "a sincerity test"
in helping his country fight PKK activities. "Unfortunately, the
terrorist organization has been establishing associations in several
European countries, receiving financial support and our European
friends are employing delaying tactics by refusing to hand over the
PKK operatives they captured to Turkey," Mr. Erdogan said. Meanwhile
in Washington, backers of a bill in Congress labelling massacres of
Armenians as "genocide" yesterday bowed to White House pressure and
agreed to delay the measure, which had sparked fury in Turkey. Four
key sponsors of the bill, censuring the Ottoman Empire for the First
World War killings, asked House of Representatives speaker Nancy
Pelosi not to hold a debate on the issue.