[NYTr] Turkey Bombs Kurds in Turkey, Encircling and Harassing PKK

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Reuters - Oct 29, 2007
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29503789.htm

Turkey bombs Kurdish rebels in southeast

By Emma Ross-Thomas

SIRNAK, Turkey, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Helicopter gunships bombed Kurdish
rebel positions in southeast Turkey on Monday and the government flexed
its military muscle with big national day parades and flypasts in major
cities.

Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed by tanks, artillery,
warplanes and combat helicopters, along the Iraqi border in readiness
for a possible large-scale incursion to hunt down 3,000 guerrillas who
use northern Iraq as a base.

The White House said it was pressing Turkey and Iraq to keep up talks
aimed at averting a major cross-border operation.

Witnesses said they saw helicopters firing rockets and bombing
suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) positions in the mountains in
Turkey's border province of Sirnak on Monday to prevent dozens of PKK
rebels from crossing into northern Iraq. The operation, reinforced by
ground troops to clear suspected PKK hideouts, was still going on after
several hours.

Three soldiers were killed during the operation, CNN Turk reported.
Another soldier was killed in Tunceli province, hundreds of kilometres
(miles) from the border, by a landmine, a device favoured by the
outlawed PKK.

As Turkey prepares for a cross-border offensive its military has also
launched an extensive operation against suspected PKK positions in
several provinces in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

On Sunday, army sources said 20 PKK guerrillas had been killed in the
Tunceli campaign involving 8,000 soldiers.

In Ankara warplanes swooped, tanks rolled and troops marched past
President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and senior
generals in a display of military might. Turkey has the second biggest
armed forces in NATO.

Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and business hub, also staged a
military parade and flag-waving patriots clapped loudly as tanks drove
past. Many people carried pictures of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who
founded modern Turkey in 1923.

"I am very proud of the 84 years of the Turkish Republic. We are not
worried about the future. We are together and the republic will
survive," said war veteran Ahmed Kendigel, 52.

"WE ARE READY"

"It is our government's decision whether to go into northern Iraq but
we are ready for anything. The army, the people, all of us are ready."

Nationalist fervour has been rising, and the funerals last week of the
12 soldiers killed by the PKK turned into huge anti-PKK rallies that
greatly increased the pressure on the government to send troops into
mainly Kurdish northern Iraq.

"With the news of ... dead soldiers, it is more important to celebrate
today than ever. We need to show today we are against the PKK and
terror attacks," said student Reyhan Turan, 24.

"Turkey is on the threshold of historic decisions," said the Vatan
daily, which like most newspapers carried a large picture of Ataturk
against a background of Turkish flags.

"We are passing through a critical period. And in these days, as
Ataturk showed us many years ago, we need unity and solidarity," it
said in a front-page commentary.

Washington and Baghdad have urged Ankara to refrain from major military
action in Iraq, fearing this would destabilise the wider region.
Turkish-Iraqi talks aimed at averting a cross-border operation broke
down on Friday.

"We obviously are encouraging the Iraqis and the Turks to continue
having discussions," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "They
need to continue to apply pressure to the PKK."

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told the BBC in an interview
that a Turkish offensive would have "disastrous" consequences for
stability in both countries and the region.

Turkish officials say talks next Monday between Erdogan and President
George W. Bush will be crucial in determining whether Turkey does carry
out a major offensive into northern Iraq. (Additional reporting by
Alexandra Hudson in Istanbul, Gareth Jones in Ankara, and Ferit Demir
in Tunceli) 

                               ***

AFP via ChannelNews Asia - Oct 29, 2007
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/308425/1/.html


Turkish army encircles 100 Kurdish rebels

ANKARA : Turkish forces have encircled 100 Kurdish rebels in a
mountainous area near the border with Iraq, the Anatolia news agency
reported on Monday.

Turkish army units had blocked off routes used by the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) rebels to return to their bases in northern Iraq
after carrying out attacks in Turkey, the report said.

The operation in the Yuksekova region of southeastern Turkey came a day
after the Turkish army killed 15 PKK rebels and as Ankara geared up for
crucial talks with the United States to tackle the crisis over the
bases in Iraq.

The militants were killed in a large-scale operation in the mountainous
eastern province of Tunceli as some 8,000 troops, backed by helicopter
gunships, assaulted rebel positions.

The military has killed 65 rebels since a PKK ambush near the frontier
a week ago left 12 soldiers dead. - AFP/de