Kurdish Official Denies Reports on Turkish Forces Crossing into Iraq

Al-Arabiya Television at 1606 gmt on 6 June carries the following announcer-read report: “The Associated Press has quoted Turkish security sources as saying that thousands of Turkish soldiers crossed borders into northern Iraq to track down Kurdish fighters. The Turkish sources said this operation came to track down Kurdish rebels operating from bases in northern Iraq, in reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is banned in Turkey. Two Turkish security officials explained that this operation will be limited and not at a large-scale, but army sources have not confirmed these reports.”

Following this, Al-Arabiya carries a live three-minute telephone interview with Mas’ud al-Salhani, member of the political office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP], from Dahuk in northern Iraq.

Asked to confirm reports on the entry of Turkish soldiers into northern Iraq, Al-Salhani says: “All the information we have, and I am speaking to you from Dahuk, confirms that reports on the entry of Turkish forces into Iraq are baseless.” He goes on to say that “the Turkish forces are present on the Turkish side of borders” and that reports on crossing borders are unfounded.

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