TURKISH TROOPS MISSING AFTER RAID
Story from BBC NEWS:
europe/7056151.stm
Published: 2007/10/22 12:00:51 GMT
Eight Turkish troops are still missing after an attack by Kurdish
rebels on Sunday which left 12 troops dead, the Turkish military
has confirmed.
The statement came as a news agency believed to be linked to the
rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) named seven of the missing troops.
The attack has seen Turkey’s government come under severe public
pressure to act against the PKK.
There have also been protests against the killings across Turkey.
Media and opposition leaders have called for immediate strikes against
the rebels.
Turkey’s parliament approved cross-border raids into Iraq last
week. But Ankara agreed to delay action after a US request, on
condition Washington took "swift steps" against the rebels.
The parliamentary vote followed an escalation of raids by the PKK –
as part of its armed campaign for Kurdish autonomy.
Recent attacks blamed on the group have left more than 40 Turkish
soldiers and civilians dead.
Angry headlines
Spontaneous protests erupted around the country on Sunday following
the latest killings.
Several more demonstrations were held on Monday, including one in
Istanbul involving several thousand people.
Newspapers have been showing photographs of the dead soldiers, most of
them young conscripts, alongside angry headlines screaming for revenge.
"Enough is enough," read a headline splashed across the front page
of the nationalist newspaper Cumhuriyet.
President Abdullah Gul discussed the crisis with opposition leaders,
who have called for immediate action against the PKK.
And Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired a cabinet meeting
ahead of a two-day visit to London.
The UK backed US calls for restraint.
"We encourage the Turkish government to continue to seek a solution
through dialogue with the Iraqi government," a spokesman for Prime
Minister Gordon Brown said.
However, the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says Turkey urgently
needs some clear sign its allies will help tackle the PKK, or it will
find it very difficult to resist ordering its military to respond.
‘Nothing positive’
Mr Erdogan warned the US that failure to act against the PKK would
threaten Washington’s close relationship with Turkey.
In an interview given to the Times newspaper before the weekend attack,
Mr Erdogan said Turkey had not had a "single positive result" since
US President George W Bush was told about the PKK’s presence in Iraq.
Turkey did not have to ask anyone’s permission to take action, he
added, saying that this could be avoided if the US and Iraq moved to
expel the PKK, close down its camps and hand over its leaders.
Iraqi officials have described these demands as unrealistic, although
on Sunday President Jalal Talabani urged the PKK to lay down their
arms or leave Iraq.
Mr Erdogan also accused the US of harming relations after
a congressional committee passed a resolution labelling the mass
killing of Armenians in 1915-17 as genocide.
The US calls for restraint arise from the concern that any incursions
would destabilise Iraq’s most peaceful area – the autonomous Kurdish
region in the north.
Iraq, too, has urged Turkey not to strike across the border.
About 3,000 PKK fighters are believed to be based in northern Iraq
near the Turkish border, our correspondent says.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
