Iraqi, Turkish and US diplomats have stepped up efforts to avert a large-scale Turkish incursion but Turkeys prime minister and president have repeatedly said their country would not tolerate any more PKK attacks from Iraq.
Turkish helicopters ferried more troops to the border with Iraq on Friday as diplomatic efforts got under way in Ankara to avert a major offensive against Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq.
State-run Anatolian news agency said Cobra helicopters and fighter jets had also pounded the shelters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), discovered after reconnaissance missions along the border and inside Turkey, which has NATO’s second biggest army.
Turkey has massed up to 1,00,000 troops along the mountainous border before a possible cross-border operation to crush about 3,000 PKK guerrillas who launch deadly attacks into Turkey from northern Iraq.
Iraqi, Turkish and US diplomats have stepped up efforts to avert a large-scale Turkish incursion but Turkey’s prime minister and president have repeatedly said their country would not tolerate any more PKK attacks from Iraq.
“We are moving more troops to Sirnak province,” a military source said. Turkey’s military has boosted troop levels in Hakkari and Sirnak provinces bordering Iraq.
Security sources said that 10 Sikorsky helicopters, carrying troops and military equipment, took off from Yusekova in Hakkari province and headed for Daglica near the Iraq border.
An Iraqi delegation began talks with Turkish civilian and military officials on Friday in Ankara.
Ankara talks
Iraqi Defence Minister General Abdel Qader Jassim, heading the delegation, told reporters on arrival on Thursday that they had come with concrete proposals.
He declined to give further details.
“For the Iraqis those proposals may be concrete and strong but for us some of the proposals may be weak because our perspective differs, so we are now having internal consultations,” said a Turkish official, adding that these talks were ongoing parallel to bilateral talks.
An Iraqi defence ministry spokesman told reporters that “everything is on course” in the talks which he described as “positive.” He said there was agreement on some matters and more clarity was expected after another meeting later on Friday.
Ankara, which wants US and Iraqi authorities to shut down PKK camps and hand over rebel leaders, is skeptical about Baghdad’s ability to crack down on the PKK in northern Iraq, a mainly Kurdish region where central government has little clout.
