TURKEY APPROVES ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST PKK SUPPORTERS
PanARMENIAN.Net
01.11.2007 15:03 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A senior Turkish official says the Cabinet
has approved economic sanctions against Kurdish rebels and their
supporters.
The measures could affect members of the autonomous Kurdish
administration in northern Iraq.
Ankara accuses rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, of
launching attacks in southeastern Turkey from bases in Iraq.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department says it is providing Ankara
with the kind of intelligence on Kurdish rebels that could enable
the Turkish military to take action against them.
A Pentagon spokesman says the United States has been supplying
actionable intelligence to Turkey, and has been providing "more and
more" information as a result of recent developments.
He says part of the effort to help Turkey fight rebels involves an
order to U.S. troops in Iraq to detain anyone on a list of the 10
most wanted PKK members.
In Baghdad Wednesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the
number of checkpoints in Iraq has been increased in an effort to cut
the supply lines of the PKK.
He also said his government is making intensive efforts to find eight
Turkish soldiers kidnapped in a rebel ambush in southeastern Turkey
last week.
Separately, Turkish media reports say Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has accused the leader of Iraq’s Kurdish region, Masoud
Barzani, of aiding Kurdish rebels who are fighting Turkey, the VOA
reports.