Alarm at Iraq Threat

THE Turkish government is to seek parliamentary approval for a military operation to chase separatist Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, a party official said.

Such an operation could jeopardise Turkey’s ties with the US and disrupt one of the few relatively peaceful areas of Iraq.

In the past, Turkey has carried out small-scale “hot pursuits” in Iraq that officials say do not need parliament’s approval. Its last major incursion was in 1997. Iraqi Kurds, who run a virtual mini- state in the north, have vowed to defend their borders.

The US warned against a unilateral move. The Iraqi Kurdish regional government’s spokesman Jamal Abdullah said: “We call upon the Turkish government to exercise self-restraint and not to turn the region into an unstable one.”

In 10 days, more than two dozen people – soldiers and civilians – have been killed in Turkey by PKK rebels. The group, labelled terrorist by the EU, has fought Turkish forces since 1984

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