Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan confirmed yesterday his government was drawing up plans to authorize a military incursion into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels using the region as a base.
Erdogan is under pressure to act tough after a series of deadly rebel attacks on Turkish security forces, but political analysts say a major cross-border operation remains unlikely.
A major military incursion would strain ties with the United States and the European Union, which Ankara hopes to join, and could undermine regional stability. Russia also urged restraint.
Asked about his plans as he arrived at parliament, Erdogan told reporters: "(Preparations on the proposal) have started and are continuing."
Parliament, where Erdogan's ruling centre-right AK Party has a big majority, would have to grant its permission to troops to cross the border into Iraq. Passing the measure would not automatically mean Turkish troops going into northern Iraq.
Turkey's military, the second biggest in NATO, launched a fresh offensive yesterday against rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the mainly Kurdish east of the country, television reported.
On Tuesday, Erdogan said all measures, including military ones, would be considered in the fight against the PKK, some 3,000 of whom are believed to be holed up in northern Iraq.
Erdogan and the army know large-scale incursions into northern Iraq in 1995 and 1997, involving an estimated 35,000 and 50,000 troops respectively, failed to dislodge the rebels.
"Turkey cannot intervene in northern Iraq today without the consent of the elected government in Baghdad because it would violate international law," said Huseyin Bagci of Ankara's Middle East Technical University.
Iraq and Turkey recently signed an anti-terrorism accord, but Baghdad refused Ankara's request to allow Turkish troops to chase rebels across their shared border if the need arose.
Ankara is also aware Baghdad lacks clout in mainly Kurdish northern Iraq, whose autonomous administration has repeatedly rejected Turkish demands for a crackdown on the PKK.
Analysts said a Turkish military incursion could play into the hands of the PKK. "The PKK is trying to show it is still a force to be reckoned with, that it can still harm the Turkish military," said Bagci.
Military intervention would stoke anger among Turkish Kurds and undermine government plans to develop the economy of the impoverished southeast region where most of them live.
Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.
Source: China Daily/agencies
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