Turkey Chases PKK Terrorists Into Iraq Again

[Formaldehyde]

Turkey pushes into Iraq after Kurd militant raids kill 24 troops

Turkey launched land and air assaults into neighboring Iraq on Wednesday after Kurdish militants killed at least 24 soldiers and injured 18 in the latest in a series of deadly strikes near the border, authorities said.

The Turkish offensive across the Iraqi border included helicopter gunships, ground commandos and fighter jets, authorities said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan canceled a foreign trip and labeled the operation a legal "hot pursuit" of terrorists operating out of Iraq's Kurdish region. The overnight attacks were blamed on the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, which has long used mountain bases in rugged northern Iraq to stage guerrilla-style attacks into Turkey, Erdogan said.

The PKK, which seeks what it calls equal rights for Turkey's Kurdish minority, and Ankara have been locked in a decades-long struggle that has left tens of thousands dead and has recently heated up anew. Public anger in Turkey about the escalating violence has been mounting, putting pressure on Erdogan and other leaders for a robust response.

"Those who think they can subjugate us through such heinous assaults are bound to realize that we will take our revenge," declared Turkish President Abdullah Gul. "These terrorist acts will be reciprocated."

In recent months, Turkish authorities say, PKK militants have killed dozens of security personnel and civilians inside Turkey's embattled Kurdish heartland. Turkey has already launched a security crackdown, but Erdogan has been hinting that Ankara would strike back even harder.

The offensive Wednesday was believed to be Turkey's largest cross-border ground operation into Iraqi territory since a 2008 onslaught against the PKK.

It remained unclear how far Turkish troops planned to advance inside Iraq, and how long forces would remain. Reuters news agency cited sources as saying that about 500 Turkish troops had moved up to five miles into Iraqi territory.

The Turkish attack did not appear to be as massive as the 2008 incursion, which was said to have involved as many as 10,000 Turkish troops.

Turkey and its allies, including Washington and the European Union, have labeled the PKK a terrorist group. The U.S. ambassador in Ankara denounced the latest PKK attacks, as did the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which includes Turkey among its members.

Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, condemned the Turkish raids as a "criminal act," Reuters reported.

Does Turkey have the right to pursue terrorists into Iraq which the Kurdish government apparently condones and possibly even supports? Is it a "criminal act" to chase terrorists?

Why didn't the US destroy the PKK terrorist training camps in Kurd-controlled Iraq after using them as a pretext to invade and occupy Iraq?

Why isn't the US military and the sovereign Iraqi government now apparently doing nothing to stop these continuing terrorist acts?

 

[NovaKart]

Iran has been doing the same thing as Turkey.

 

[chad187]

Does Iraq support this?

 

[Formaldehyde]

Iran has been doing the same thing as Turkey.

Iran has been invading the border of Iraq with its military to hunt Kurd terrorists? Do you have an source for that?

Does Iraq support this?

I don't think they said a word the last time it happened.

 

[NovaKart]

http://www.newsmax.com/KenTimmerman/Nourial-Maliki-iran-iraq-kurds/2011/07/19/id/404082

Thousands of Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) troops crossed into northern Iraq over the weekend, bombarding Iraqi Kurdish villages.

The Iraqi government has quietly acknowledged the Iranian military operation on Iraqi soil, but has not called it an invasion.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the prime minister of the Kurdish regional government, Dr. Barham Salih, left for Beijing as the Iranian invasion began, for a long-planned trip aimed at encouraging Chinese investment in Iraq.

The Iranian military offensive is targeting bases controlled by the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), the largest and best-organized Iranian opposition group currently operating inside Iran

 

[amadeus]

Sounds like the Turks have taken a page out of the U.S. playbook, though it also would have been nice if they'd taken the page that tells them to get the consent of the other country's government before launching the operations.

 

[Winner]

It's funny how the tone changes when someone else does the exact same things as Israel to defend themselves? Be consistent!

Turkey bombs Kurds, many innocent dead

In response to a series of minor incidents at the border, the Turkish military launched a disproportionately large retaliation against bases of Kurdish freedom fighters. According to independent reports released by UNAKILL (UN Agency for Kurdish Independence, Liberation, and Liberty) a number of civilians, including many women and children, were killed in the Turkish raids. Witnesses interviewed by UNAKILL described Turkish actions as "a massacre". Turkish soldiers have been reported to use illegal weapons of war and were often seen firing indiscriminately into crowds of unarmed Kurdish protesters.

President of the PKK Murat Karayilan denounced the raids yesterday as a continuation of brutal repression by the occupying power against the peaceful Kurdish people and called on international community to put an end to Turkish occupation of Kurdish lands. When asked about the incident in which several Turkish were killed the previous day, he dismissed it as an action of "fringe groups" over which the PKK has no control. "We are being collectively punished by the occupier for actions of a radical few," said Karaylan.

 

[asbestos]

Does Iraq support this?

I doubt they could do anything about it even if they wanted to. Iraq can barely provide water and electricity for its people.

 

[Ares de Borg]

@Winner: It's because muslims killing muslims is often regarded as a non-issue by westerners. Morally wrong or not, it doesn't change much.

 

[Winner]

@Winner: It's because muslims killing muslims is often regarded as a non-issue by westerners. Morally wrong or not, it doesn't change much.

Maybe, partially.

But I still find the hypocrisy delicious. Especially since Turkey is now so vocal in its defence of the Palestinians - how does it go with their continuing oppression of the Kurds? How dare they object against acts of self-defence by Israel in Gaza, when they're doing the same thing for almost the same reasons in Kurdistan.

 

[Leoreth]

It's funny how the tone changes when someone else does the exact same things as Israel to defend themselves? Be consistent!

My thoughts exactly.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Why didn't the US destroy the PKK terrorist training camps in Kurd-controlled Iraq after using them as a pretext to invade and occupy Iraq?

Did I miss something ? Afaik the US never used Kurdish terrorist camps as a pretext. It was all about hypothetical WMDs, non-existant Al-Qaida connections and fukuyamaesque democracy delusions. Kurdish terrorists were allies against Saddam and now they are somebody else's problem.

 

[Leoreth]

So much for "you should stand by your allies", by the way.

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

I find separatist movements very interesting, especially in south eastern Turkey where the majority of the ethnic Kurds reside, and take up a third of the country. I have to say that is a lot of land.

Also, it isn't really clear what is going on in northern Iraq, since Iraqi Kurdistan is somewhat a country within a country administered by the Kurdistan Regional Government. If anything that happen inside Iraqi Kurdistan, would it be logical to conclude that it is a problem only for the Kurdistan Regional Government, instead of the Republic of Iraq?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

So much for "you should stand by your allies", by the way.

Yeah well, the US is allied with Turkey and with the Kurds in Iraq. It's really a lose-lose situation.

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

Yeah well, the US is allied with Turkey and with the Kurds in Iraq. It's really a lose-lose situation.

Alliances change a lot. Ever heard of history?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Problem is that due to the situation in Iraq neither of those allies has outlived his usefulness yet.

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

I am going to wager that a balkanization effect will eventually settle the issue. But Turkey and Iran isn't going to settle anything less.

 

[asbestos]

A big part of the problem is that both Turkish and Iranian companies are heavy investors and traders in Iraq, especially so since Iraq's economic infrastructure is in tatters, which presents a major hurdle for an autonomous foreign policy towards these countries.

Moreover, there is a tremendous political culture of corruption within Iraq and Kurdistan, and officials can be bribed, or easily convinced that it's in their national interest, to condemn the PKK attacks or to help in policing them. At least officially.

This isn't even the only major Turkish issue that's negatively impacting Iraq. Turkey is using the Tigris and Euphrates for hydroelectric power generation, which has had the effect of drastically lowering the water supply coming into Iraq. And I doubt Iraq will be able to show any spine over it or any other Turkish issue.

 

[Formaldehyde]

It's funny how the tone changes when someone else does the exact same things as Israel to defend themselves? Be consistent!

I have consistently maintained that Israel has the right to try to find the handful of criminals who have killed 22 Israelis over the course of the last 11 years with rockets, just as I have repeatedly stated that Turkey has a similar right to find a much larger group of terrorists who have killed thousands in Turkey. Of course, that is no excuse to kill thousands of innocent Palestinians as a direct result.

And where is the URL to this terrorist organization which released this propaganda? Do you support this obvious terrorist group?

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization internationally by a number of states and organizations, including the United States and the European Union.[6][11] Turkey labeled the organization as an ethnic secessionist organization that uses terrorism and the threat of force against both civilian[12][13] and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal.

If so, is that being "consistent"?

Did I miss something ? Afaik the US never used Kurdish terrorist camps as a pretext. It was all about hypothetical WMDs, non-existant Al-Qaida connections and fukuyamaesque democracy delusions. Kurdish terrorists were allies against Saddam and now they are somebody else's problem.

They most certainly did, although the Bush administration quickly backtracked on their promises to combat terrorism and any state which supports it, such as the US government itself:

US Ambassador: No Promise to Remove PKK Camps in Iraq

Kamil VURUSCU, ANKARA - Ross Wilson, United States' Ambassador to Ankara, says that he cannot remember any American promise to remove the PKK's terror bases in Northern Iraq. Ambassador Wilson also argued that the US had no soldier in Northern Iraq. Iraq has been under American occupation since the 2003 Iraq War. President George W. Bush and some other high-ranked Americans had promised to remove the PKK camps three years ago, yet no concrete step has been taken. The PKK uses the Northern Iraq bases to attack Turkey's southeastern provinces.