B
Boondocksaint375
Guest
Turkish Special Forces Enter Iraq
After threatening to do so for the last few days, the Turks have made good on their promise to go after the Kurdish separatist organisation PKK in northern Iraq.
According to Russian news agency Novosti, based on rapports from local Turkish newspapers on Wednesday, units of the Turkish army have crossed the Iraqi border in a special operation against Kurdish militants.
Having got parliamentary approval for cross border military operations last week, the Turkish government was signalling that that authority would only be exercised if the U.S. and the Iraqi government did not act to rein in the Kurdish separatist organisation PKK, that has been fighting a decades long guerrilla and terrorist campaign aimed at independence for the Kurdish minority population in eastern Turkey, and which maintains bases of operation across the border.
But with the spectacular ambush last Sunday, where PKK forces killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers, and took another eight hostage, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, would have been under enormous pressure from hard line factions in political and military circles, to do something.
It of course remains to be seen whether this incursion is just a limited special forces operation, or if it represents the beginning of a larger and more sustained campaign in northern Iraq.
It is however a situation fraught with peril, not least for the U.S., which on the one hand has clear obligations to Turkey, a fifty year ally and NATO member, but on the other has a vested interest in keeping the peace in the one corner of Iraq that has remained relatively stable and pro-American. The U.S. has also, according to unconfirmed reports, been actively supporting the PKK sister organisation PJAK, which is engaged in a similar campaign in neighbouring Iran.
http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/6342/
After threatening to do so for the last few days, the Turks have made good on their promise to go after the Kurdish separatist organisation PKK in northern Iraq.
According to Russian news agency Novosti, based on rapports from local Turkish newspapers on Wednesday, units of the Turkish army have crossed the Iraqi border in a special operation against Kurdish militants.
The Yeni Safak newspaper reported that Turkish commandos supported by helicopters were chasing militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and F-16 Falcon fighter-bombers and artillery were delivering pinpoint strikes at militant bases about 50 kilometers (30 miles) deep into the Iraqi territory.
Zaman, Turkey's third largest newspaper, quoted a a government spokesman who claimed that Turkey's NATO allies the U.S. had been informed about the start of the cross-border operation. Turkey's military has as yet though not confirmed the media reports. Having got parliamentary approval for cross border military operations last week, the Turkish government was signalling that that authority would only be exercised if the U.S. and the Iraqi government did not act to rein in the Kurdish separatist organisation PKK, that has been fighting a decades long guerrilla and terrorist campaign aimed at independence for the Kurdish minority population in eastern Turkey, and which maintains bases of operation across the border.
But with the spectacular ambush last Sunday, where PKK forces killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers, and took another eight hostage, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, would have been under enormous pressure from hard line factions in political and military circles, to do something.
It of course remains to be seen whether this incursion is just a limited special forces operation, or if it represents the beginning of a larger and more sustained campaign in northern Iraq.
It is however a situation fraught with peril, not least for the U.S., which on the one hand has clear obligations to Turkey, a fifty year ally and NATO member, but on the other has a vested interest in keeping the peace in the one corner of Iraq that has remained relatively stable and pro-American. The U.S. has also, according to unconfirmed reports, been actively supporting the PKK sister organisation PJAK, which is engaged in a similar campaign in neighbouring Iran.
http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/6342/