TURKEY: Prime Minister Erdogan says Turkey is ready to face up to negative international reaction to possible military operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq

Record ID: 217344

  • Title: TURKEY: Prime Minister Erdogan says Turkey is ready to face up to negative international reaction to possible military operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq
  • Date: 12th October 2007
  • Summary: (BN10) SIRNAK, TURKEY OCTOBER 12, 2007 (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS ON PATROL NEAR IRAQI BORDER
  • Embargoed: 27th October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAC6N918BU0SZDS2U3U39WG9TZ4
  • Story Text: Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan says Turkey is ready to face up to negative international reaction to a possible military operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
    Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday (October 12) Ankara was prepared to face up to international criticism if it launched an attack on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
    Asked about world reaction to any such incursion, Erdogan told reporters: "After going down this route, its cost has already been calculated. Whatever the cost is, it will be met."
    Washington fears such an offensive could destabilise Iraq's most peaceful area and potentially the wider region.
    Faced with a sharp escalation of attacks by Kurdish militants on Turkish troops, Erdogan's government has decided to seek approval from parliament next week for a major military operation to deal with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels who use northern Iraq as a base to attack Turkish targets.
    Some analysts say an operation is more likely after a vote on Wednesday in a U.S. congressional committee branded killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One genocide -- a charge Turkey firmly denies.
    Ankara recalled its ambassador to the United States for consultations on Thursday after the congressional vote, which was strongly condemned in Turkey. It also sparked street protests in Ankara and Istanbul.
    The Turkish government cautioned on Thursday that relations with its NATO ally would be harmed by the committee's decision.
    The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee's decision is expected to weaken U.S. influence over Turkey, which has NATO's second-largest army, at a time when the government ponders whether to push for the military operation into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq.
    The United States and European Union, which NATO member Turkey wants to join, have cautioned against such a move.
    Erdogan said Turkey respected Iraq's unity but if it was doing nothing to stop the separatist PKK then Ankara had to.
    On Friday a soldier was killed and two wounded in Sirnak province, near the border with Iraq, by a mine laid by PKK militants, the army said.
    Army sources told Reuters an operation in the area, backed up from the air, was intensified on Friday after the mine blast Ankara says 3,000 PKK rebels are based in northern Iraq from where they stage frequent deadly attacks into Turkey.
    Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.
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