- Title: TURKEY: Turkish military steps up activity on Iraqi border after talks fail q
- Date: 28th October 2007
- Summary: (EU) DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY (OCTOBER 27, 2007) (REUTERS) MILITARY HELICOPTERS ON TARMAC PLANE TAKING OFF FROM AIRBASE
- Embargoed: 12th November 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA2I6OA2AZ94UCBHNYSFQU6NQIY
- Story Text: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan slams the European Union for labelling Kurdish rebels 'terrorists' without taking active steps against them, while Turkey steps up military activity on the Iraqi border after diplomatic efforts fail to resolve the crisis.
Turkish military aircraft scoured the Iraqi border for Kurdish rebel camps on Saturday (October 27), army sources said, after the failure of diplomatic talks in Ankara aimed at averting a major operation into northern Iraq.
Turkish-Iraqi talks collapsed late on Friday after Ankara rejected proposals by Iraqi Defence Minister General Abdel Qader Jassim for tackling Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq as insufficient. The delegation left on Saturday.
Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed by fighter jets, helicopter gunships, tanks, and mortars, on the frontier before a possible offensive against about 3,000 rebels using Iraq as a base from which to carry out deadly attacks in Turkey.
The United States, which was also represented at the talks, opposes a major incursion, fearing it could destabilise the relatively peaceful north of Iraq and the wider region.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan took a swipe at western countries, calling on the European Union to use less words and more action.
"We are not satisfied with them (European Union) for calling PKK 'terrorists'. We want to see some action otherwise we believe that they are failing the sincerity test - no matter which country," said Erdogan at an opening ceremony of a building complex in Kocaeli near Istanbul in Turkey.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) took up arms against Turkey in 1984, aiming to create an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict. In recent years the PKK has pushed for greater cultural and political rights.
Senior Turkish diplomats say Erdogan has given Washington and Baghdad a limited time to show concrete results or steps to be taken against the PKK.
Army sources told Reuters on Saturday that military planes were making reconnaissance flights along the mountainous border to photograph PKK camps in northern Iraq. Helicopters were patrolling villages and soldiers sweeping for mines.
The military has recently carried out as many as 24 limited operations into northern Iraq against the PKK but no major land incursion, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said on Friday. Turkish helicopter gunships and F-16 jets have attacked PKK positions inside Iraq in recent days. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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