Turkey Authorizes Military Operation in Iraq

ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 17 — The Turkish parliament Wednesday authorized cross-border military operations into northern Iraq to combat Kurdish separatist rebels as world leaders implored Turkey to delay any action.

In the hours before the parliament voted by a gaping margin of 507 to 19 to give Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan permission to launch strikes any time over the next year, Iraqi and NATO officials made a flurry of cautionary, last-minute telephone calls to the country's top leaders.

The vote came just moments after President Bush in a White House press conference urged Turkey to continue talking to Iraq officials about the situation and to not move troops against the rebels.

"We are making it very clear to Turkey that we don't think it is in their interests to send troops into Iraq," Bush told reporters. " . . . There's a better way to deal with the issue than having the Turks send massive troops into the country."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked Erdogan for more time to take action against rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who have been allowed to operate freely in northern Iraq since the U.S. invasion. He said he has given "strict instructions" to the regional Iraqi Kurdish administration to crack down on PKK operations and said Iraqi forces could join the Turkish army in military operations "if necessary," according to the Anatolian News Agency.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called Turkish President Abdullah Gul and urged Turkey to "exercise the greatest possible restraint, particularly in this time of great tension," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said at a news briefing in Brussels.

But Turkish parliamentary leaders — some delivering impassioned speeches, others reading dryly from prepared texts during Wednesday's two-and-a-half-hour debate — criticized Iraq and the United States for refusing to take action against the rebel organization, despite years of pleas from Turkish authorities.

They accused the northern Iraq Kurdish government of giving the PKK leaders and fighters free rein to run their headquarters and training camps and plot attacks on Turkey across the border. They also blamed the United States, saying it failed to live up to promises made in 2003 that they would help counter the PKK threat from inside Iraq.

"They are furious and they wish to see somebody get a hold of the PKK," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell. "Ideally it would be the Kurdish government, and that's who we are pressuring to deal with the terrorists in their midst. There is enormous frustration among the Turks."

U.S. and Iraqi officials fear a Turkish invasion into Iraq could lead to even more chaos in Iraq and could open the door to other neighboring countries, including Iran and Syria, to launch attacks against other Kurdish groups along their borders with Iraq. Both Iran and Turkey have been firing artillery shells into northern Iraq for the past several weeks.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who met with Turkish leaders during a state visit here Wednesday, said Turkey has a legitimate right to launch a cross-border offensive.

"We understand that such an operation would be aimed toward a certain group which attacks Turkish soldiers," Assad told reporters. "We support decisions that Turkey has on its agenda, we are backing them. We accept this as Turkey's legitimate right. As Syria, we are supporting all decisions by Turkey and we are standing behind them."

Turkey, Syria and Iran all have troubled relationships with their Kurdish minority populations and separatist groups that have called for an independent Kurdistan uniting Kurdish territories along the border regions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/17/AR2007101700967.html
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Turkey planned incursion in Northern Iraq will open an example for Iran in Southern Iraq and for Ba'athist Syria in Central Sunni heartland. Politically, Iraq would be tore apart by its neighbours influence if US pulls out its troops.