Turkey Bombs PKK
October 24, 2007
The European Union reiterated its calls for restraint as Turkish warplanes reportedly bombed Kurdish rebel targets along the Iraqi border on Wednesday, Oct. 24, and government and military leaders met to consider whether to launch operations across the frontier.
The European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, called on Ankara to refrain from unilateral military action and to give diplomacy a chance.
"Turkey should think twice before launching a military intervention," Manuel Lobo Antunes, the European affairs minister of Portugal, which currently holds the EU presidency, told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
"It's important that the international community supports Turkey in its efforts to counter terrorism, in respect of the law, without risking the stability of the region and the whole continent," Antunes added.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called on Ankara and Baghdad to work in cooperation and in accordance with international law when dealing with the attacks on Turkish troops by Iraqi Kurdish rebels.
The European Union "condemns all terrorist attacks and understands Turkey's need to protect its citizens," Rehn told the same session of the European parliament. "But we also urge Turkey to seek a political solution in cooperation with Iraq, regional authorities and the international community and to show a sense of proportionality in its response to PKK terrorism."
The EU was joined by the United States in calling for diplomatic efforts to replace military action.
"We are concerned about the continuing skirmishes that are happening up there, and terrorist attacks that are being launched by the PKK against the Turks," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "We continue to urge both sides to exercise restraint."
US warns of potential escalation
The US also expressed worries that renewed fighting could lead to "escalating tensions" between Turkey and Iraq.
Meanwhile, Daniel Fried, US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said in Berlin that the Kurdish administration in Iraq's autonomous north must to do more to weed out PKK rebels. "It is in the interests of the Kurdish residents of Iraq that these terrorist attacks stop and that Turkey and Iraq become good neighbors."
According to reports, Turkish fighter jets bombed and destroyed several Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) mountain positions in Sirnak, Hakkari, Siirt and Van provinces, which are on the borders with Iraq and Iran, the semi-official Anatolia news agency said.
The reports stated that helicopter gunships also took part in the raids that followed the killing of 12 soldiers in a PKK ambush near the Iraqi border on Sunday. The PKK said it captured eight soldiers in the clashes.
Another operation against the PKK, backed by air cover, was underway in the eastern province of Tunceli, Anatolia said, adding that suspected PKK militants detonated two remote-control bombs as soldiers combed a rural area for landmines.
The military said 34 PKK militants had been killed in operations since Sunday's attack, which increased pressure on Ankara for a military incursion into northern Iraq, where the rebels take refuge.
Last week, the Turkish parliament authorized the government to order cross-border military strikes against the separatist camps.
Turkey considers next move
The new international appeals for restraint, and signs that Baghdad might hand some rebels over to prevent a Turkish military strike, prompted the National Security Council of top military officers and senior ministers, led by President Abdullah Gül, to meet and consider its next step.
During high-level talks in Baghdad, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan that he "did not exclude the possibility" of extraditing separatist fighters when the two met in Baghdad on Tuesday, a Turkish government source said.
Babacan said Iraq should hand over about 100 PKK members whose names figured on a list sent to Baghdad earlier this year, added the source. The issue will be taken up during talks in Ankara on Thursday with an Iraqi security delegation.
Babacan added that Ankara would not flinch from military action if Iraq and the United States did not clamp down on PKK bases in northern Iraq.
Turkey has long demanded that Iraq prevent the PKK -- which has been fighting for self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984 -- from using its territory, cut off logistical support and hand over rebel leaders to Turkey.
Massud Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan, on Wednesday urged the PKK to end its armed struggle.
"We do not accept in any way ... the use of Iraqi territories, including the territories of the Kurdistan region, as a base to threaten the security of neighboring countries," Barzani said in a statement.
He also urged the rebels to adhere to their offer of a ceasefire conditional on Turkey dropping its plans for an incursion into northern Iraq. Ankara has rejected the offer.