Turkey launches offensives on rebels(requests permission from Iraq gov't to go into Iraq)

Source: Associated Press

Turkey launches offensives on rebels By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Writer
6 minutes ago



ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's army chief said Thursday the military had launched several "large scale" offensives against rebels in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, and he asked the government for approval to launch an incursion into neighboring northern Iraq.

Washington repeatedly has cautioned Turkey against staging a cross-border offensive, fearing that it could destabilize the region and antagonize Iraqi Kurds, who are allied with the U.S.

But Iraq's government is barely able to control its own cities. U.S. commanders, who are battling the Iraqi insurgency in the middle of the country, are stretched too thin to take on Turkish Kurds hiding in remote mountains near the frontier.

On Monday, the Turkish government demanded again that U.S. and Iraqi officials crack down on guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_kurds

I wonder if the asking for approval is kind of an after the fact thing?

own Nation. But we can't have that, because that would upset the world order of the ABSOLUTE Ruling Power of Government, which can never be legitimately resisted...

Source: Agence France-Presse

US urges caution after Turkish army threatens operation into Iraq

Thu Apr 12, 5:29 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States urged Turkey on
Thursday to refrain from launching cross-border raids against
Kurdish guerrilla bases in neighboring Iraq, although it agreed
the rebels "need to be dealt with."

The assistant secretary of state for Europe, Dan Fried, made
the appeal in a telephone call to Turkish Ambassador Nabi
Sensoy after Turkey's army chief argued publicly in favor of
a military incursion into northern Iraq to crack down on Kurd
rebels there, US officials said.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Fried told
the envoy such incursions were "an option that everybody
should work to avoid."

-snip-

But the US spokesman went on to say it was imperative to
counter the PKK, which has waged a bloody campaign for
Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's southeast since 1984, an
insurgency that has already claimed about 37,000 lives.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070412/pl_afp/turkeyiraqunrestkurds_070412212931

While US officials have expressed their sympathy for Turkey's position they say that US forces in Iraq are too stretched to be able to carry out such an operation.

...

Buyukyanit said 13 Turkish soldiers had died fighting PKK rebels in the first four months of the year and complained that the 2003 US- led invasion of Iraq had resulted in a large number of Iraqi army weapons falling into the hands of the Kurdish guerrillas.

http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_23938-Turkish-Military-Chief-Calls-For-Attack-On-Iraqi-PKK-Bases.html