Cold War Veterans Blog

Islamist Win Turkish Election

Turkish Interverntion in Northern Iraq seems more likely after these election results providing yet another obstacle to future stability in Iraq and the possibility aof larger regional conflict seems to loom. The U.S. has said little other than warning Ankara not to invade Northern Iraq but quite possible has privately agreed to turn a blind eye on Turkish incursions into Northern Iraq . The Turks want to hit PKK rebel bases and have long made it know it would not except a independent Kurdish state on its border.

Turkey's Islamic-rooted ruling party won parliamentary elections by a wide margin Sunday, and the prime minister pledged to safeguard the country's secular traditions and do whatever the government deems necessary to fight separatist Kurdish rebels.






Kurdish Rebel Leader Expects Turk Attack
Kurdish rebels of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are seen near the Turkish border





Kurdish rebels of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are seen near the Turkish border in the remote village of Lewzhe, in northern Iraq, Saturday, July 21, 2007. Their commander, Murat Karayilan, says he believes the Turkish military will launch a long-anticipated offensive against separatist bases in northern Iraq shortly after Sunday's general elections in Turkey and warned his fighters were prepared for battle.(AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)




Kurdish Rebel Leader Expects Turk Attack



Jul 22, 5:27 PM (ET)
By YAHYA BARZANJI




LEWZHE, Iraq (AP) - The commander of Iraq-based Kurdish rebels said he believed Turkey will quickly follow its parliamentary elections Sunday with a long-anticipated offensive against his remote mountain bases.

Murat Karayilan, the leader of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, warned that his fighters were prepared for battle, but denied Ankara's charges that his group was using Iraqi soil to launch attacks against Turkish forces across the border.

"The date of the Turkish offensive has drawn near," Karayilan told The Associated Press in an interview Friday at his base in the remote northern Iraqi village of Lewzhe. "We are ready to confront it and to defend ourselves. The Turkish army cannot move with ease in this mountainous terrain."

Turkey has been fighting PKK rebels since 1984 in a war that has killed tens of thousands.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party won a new mandate Sunday, has threatened to stage an incursion into northern Iraq if post-election talks with Iraq and the United States fail to produce effective measures against the Kurdish guerrillas.

Erdogan told jubilant supporters in a victory speech in Ankara that: "In our struggle against separatist terrorists, we are determined to take every step at the right time."

Opposition parties have criticized his ruling party for not showing determination to stage an incursion, a move that could seriously strain ties with Iraq and Turkey's NATO ally, the United States. The United States, facing problems elsewhere in Iraq, opposes such a move, but Turkey, frustrated by escalating rebel violence, says Washington has reneged on promises to help it fight terrorism.

Karayilan said that the autonomous Kurdish government in Iraq was not supporting his group. He described his group's bases in northern Iraq as primarily political indoctrination centers. An AP reporter, however, saw PKK guerrillas training on the use of light arms and doing endurance drills in full combat gear as he made his way to Lewzhe.

"The arms market and merchants are our main sources of weapons," said Karayilan who said that his guerrillas recently ambushed and commandeered an Iranian truckload of weapons that was on its way to Lebanon. He said he commands about 10,000 people.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has protested to Ankara over cross-border shelling of Iraqi territory by the Turkish army and repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Al-Maliki has received an invitation from Erdogan to visit Turkey, but no date has been set.

Karayilan charged that any Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq would be intended to thwart efforts by Iraq's Kurds to annex the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

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