Turks Hit Kurds From Skies — Parliament Expected to OK Iraq Incursion

By Selcan Hacaoglu

SIRNAK, Turkey – Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships attacked suspected positions of Kurdish rebels near Iraq on Wednesday, a possible prelude to a cross-border operation that would likely raise tensions with Washington.

The military offensive also reportedly included shelling of Turkish Kurd guerrilla hideouts in northern Iraq, which is predominantly Kurdish. U.S. officials are already preoccupied with efforts to stabilize other areas of Iraq and oppose Turkish intervention in the relatively peaceful north.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that preparations were under way for parliamentary authorization of a cross-border operation, and told private CNN-Turk TV that the motion might reach Parliament today . The preparations “have started and are continuing,” he said. An opposition nationalist party said it would support the proposal.

If parliament approves, the military could choose to launch an operation immediately or wait to see if the United States and its allies decide to crack down on the rebels, who have been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

“If you’re against (the rebels), make your attitude clear and do whatever is necessary,” Erdogan said in comments directed at Washington. “If you cannot do it, then let us do it.”

An Iraqi government spokesman said a Turkish military incursion would be regarded as a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.

“We are aware of the size of the threat Turkey is subjected to, but this does not give Turkey the right to enter Iraqi territories,” said Ali al-Dabbagh.

Turkey has conducted two dozen large-scale incursions into Iraq since the late 1980s. The last such operation, in 1997, involved tens of thousands of troops and government-paid village guards. Results were inconclusive.

Top NATO commander Gen. John Craddock, the senior U.S. soldier in Europe, indicated that he could do little to stop a Turkish incursion.

Craddock was asked by reporters in Washington whether he can influence Turkey’s actions in terms of Iraq.

“I won’t say in terms of Iraq,” he said. “I will say that I talk with my counterparts, military leaders in Turkey, frequently, and we discuss issues about their border. And I’ll leave it at that.”

Turkish troops were blocking rebel escape routes into Iraq while F-16 and F-14 warplanes and Cobra helicopters dropped bombs on possible hideouts, Dogan news agency reported.

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The Armenia Question

Measure advances, could harm ties

A House panel defied President Bush on Wednesday and approved a measure that he said would damage U.S. goals in the Middle East – and alienate NATO ally Turkey.

Late Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 27-21 in favor of a measure that would label as genocide the mass killings of Armenians by Turks around the time of World War I. The bill now goes to the House floor.

President Bush strongly urged Congress to reject the bill, saying it would do “great harm” to U.S.-Turkish relations. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that 70 percent of U.S. air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkish air space. About a third of the fuel used by the U.S. military in Iraq also goes through Turkey.

“Unfortunately, some politicians in the United States have once again sacrificed important matters to petty domestic politics despite all calls to commonsense,” President Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency Anatolia.

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Originally published by Selcan Hacaoglu Associated Press .

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