SIRNAK, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's ruling party decided Tuesday to seek parliamentary approval for an offensive against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, a move that could open a new front in the Iraq war and disrupt one of that nation's few relatively peaceful areas.

Turkish tanks are carried towards Sirnak Tuesday, near the Turkish-Iraq border.


The government did not say it had decided to launch such an attack, which could jeopardize Turkey's ties with the United States. The U.S. warned against sending troops across the border and urged Turkey to work with Iraq's government to quell the Turkish Kurd guerrillas.
"If they have a problem, they need to work together to resolve it, and I'm not sure that unilateral incursions are the way to go," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "We have counseled, both in public and private, for many, many months, the idea that it is important to work cooperatively to resolve this issue."
In the past, Turkish troops have made small-scale "hot pursuit" raids into Iraq that officials say do not require Parliament's approval. The last major incursion against the militant separatists operating out of Iraq's Kurdish region was in 1997.
There are widespread fears that a Turkish offensive would destabilize Iraq's Kurdish area, which has largely escaped the violence and political turmoil afflicting regions dominated by Shiite Muslims and Sunni Arabs.
Iraqi Kurds who run a virtual mini-state in Iraq's north, have vowed to defend their borders. A spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish regional government, Jamal Abdullah, urged Turkey on Tuesday to drop the idea of a military attack.
"We call upon the Turkish government to exercise self-restraint and not to turn the region into an unstable one," he said. "Such attacks will threaten the stability not only in Iraq but the whole region."

Turkey's decision to seek a parliamentary go-ahead was made during a three-hour meeting between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and officials from his governing Justice and Development Party, said a leading member of the party who was at the meeting.
The party wanted the measure to pass "as soon as possible" and would try to present it to Parliament on Wednesday, the lawmaker said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. He insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
Earlier Tuesday, the government said it had begun preparations for a military operation into Iraq in pursuit of the rebels after a series of deadly attacks on soldiers in recent days outraged Turks. Turkey previously had said it would prefer that the United States and its Iraqi Kurd allies in northern Iraq crack down on the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK which seeks to create an autonomous Kurdish state in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast.
"Institutions concerned have been given the necessary orders and instructions to make all kinds of legal, economic and political preparations to end the presence of the terror organization in a neighboring country in the upcoming period, including if necessary a cross-border operation," said a statement issued after met with security officials.
Over the last 10 days, more than two dozen soldiers and civilians died in attacks by PKK rebels in the southeast. The group, labeled terrorist by Washington and the European Union, has fought Turkish forces since 1984 in a war that has killed tens of thousands of rebels, soldiers and civilians.
The public mood made it likely Parliament would move quickly to approve an offensive.
It wasn't clear if Turkey's military planned to strike immediately after approval or wait to see if the action would prod the U.S. and its allies to take robust action against the PKK bases.
However, Turks already have debated a cross-border offensive through much of the year and any further delay could hurt the credibility of the tough-talking government. The military declared months ago that it was ready for an incursion into Iraq.
Turkey's army staged two dozen large-scale incursions into northern Iraq between the late 1980s and 1997. The 1997 operation involved tens of thousands of soldiers and government-paid village guards.
While legislators took up the question of an attack into Iraq, Turkish troops supported by air power pressed ahead with an offensive in Turkey's Sirnak province close to the border. They targeted suspected escape routes for Kurdish guerrillas in the mountainous area.
Turks are furious that PKK rebels carry out attacks on Turkish soil and then slip across the border to sanctuaries in northern Iraq. Turkey has accused Iraqi Kurds of tolerating their ethnic brethren in the PKK.
Under intense pressure from leaders of Iraqi Kurds, Iraq's national government refused to allow Turkey to send troops across the border to chase the rebels under a counterterrorism pact the two countries signed in September.
Turkey does have potential nonmilitary weapons. It could close its border crossings with northern Iraq, which are major source of business for the Iraqi Kurd economy.


But the latest string of attacks by the PKK ramped up public pressure on Erdogan, who has been accused by the opposition of lacking determination to act.
"America is going 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) to hunt down terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. But we can't go 30 kilometers (20 miles), we cannot step into northern Iraq?" complained Abdulmuttalip Hanedan, a village guard leader in Sirnak.

10.10.2007 CNN www.cnn.com

I say give'em hell.
Good hunting, don't let up, take them all down and allow better Humans to move into the Area.

I think Turkey should go in Northern Iraq to clear the PKK terrorists. It's high time we did thid. As Abdulmuttalip Hanedan said, America comes from miles and miles away to give a so-called independency to Iraqis, but actually to seperate Iraq into three parts and threaten Turkey easier. But, we can't go in Iraq to clear the terrorists. We always say that we aren't against our Kurd brothers. But people who try to seperate Turkey can't be our brothers. So, we aren't against our Kurd brothers, (We live together, share our food, drink and brotherhood and we marry with each other.) instead, we are against PKK... Everybody must understand that Turkey can't be seperated.

In fact there are a lot of seperatist groups trying to seperate Turkey. Iran tried to change our system from a secular democratic country to a Islamic one by using Hezballah and couldn't achieve that goal. After that, Iran supported PKK to create an anarchy so that Iran can empoze its sytem to Turkey. But couldn't achieve that goal again.
So today, our ally US gives us no chance to go in there and clear there from terrorists. If they are fighting against terrorism then they should support us. And also without their support we can do whatever we want to save our citizens from terrorist attacks.

Originally Posted by Gator

I say give'em hell.
Good hunting, don't let up, take them all down and allow better Humans to move into the Area.

Kill all the Kurds, the best allies we have inside Iraq. Brilliant. The Kurdish north is the only part of Iraq that isnt being torn apart by IEDs and violence. Where not one American soldier has been killed since the beginning of the war. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over. Please step away from the bong and open the window.

Basically Bulldogg... this place is a messy pile of crap that only a brutal strongman can hold together.

Agreed but kill all the Kurds, the only ones who have helped us from day one?

Originally Posted by oRTouCH

So today, our ally US gives us no chance to go in there and clear there from terrorists. If they are fighting against terrorism then they should support us. And also without their support we can do whatever we want to save our citizens from terrorist attacks.

So follow their lead and ignore them, its your nations security you have every right to protect it.
I strongly doubt that there would be much objection from the world (other than Iran) if you chose to cross the border.

Originally Posted by Free

I think Turkey should go in Northern Iraq to clear the PKK terrorists. It's high time we did thid.

Agree completely.

Originally Posted by MontyB

I strongly doubt that there would be much objection from the world (other than Iran) if you chose to cross the border.

Sooooooo, Iraq and the United States are not part of the world now? Damn I missed that one on GoogleNews. One ally, one ally with the largest military in the world, being upset at something you do might be something to consider. And yes, before you say it, the US did not care what its allies around the world thought about invading Iraq. The biggest kid on the playground usually doesn't, whether they are right or wrong.

And then there is Iraq. You are going to piss off an oil rich country on your doorstep? Never a good idea. Some of them may not like the Kurds either but it is again THEIR country. Much better to do what Russia does with Georgia. Use the birdies in the sky to pinpoint their locations and then target the area with a conventional AGM from inside Turkey or a SSM. You can always fire the battery commander if the world gets pissed and claim he was an ultranationalist hothead.

Originally Posted by bulldogg

Sooooooo, Iraq and the United States are not part of the world now? Damn I missed that one on GoogleNews. One ally, one ally with the largest military in the world, being upset at something you do might be something to consider. And yes, before you say it, the US did not care what its allies around the world thought about invading Iraq. The biggest kid on the playground usually doesn't, whether they are right or wrong.

And then there is Iraq. You are going to piss off an oil rich country on your doorstep? Never a good idea. Some of them may not like the Kurds either but it is again THEIR country. Much better to do what Russia does with Georgia. Use the birdies in the sky to pinpoint their locations and then target the area with a conventional AGM from inside Turkey or a SSM. You can always fire the battery commander if the world gets pissed and claim he was an ultranationalist hothead.

Why exactly does Turkey need to consult the USA on this issue and they have asked Iraq to turn over wanted members of the organisation and Iraq has refused to do so. Basically its just another Afghanistan only when the Turks are done they can pop back across the border and get on with life.

Like it or not Iraq is harboring terrorists that have repeatedly attacked Turkey and if they follow the US example and lead they have every right to go after them since neither the Iraqi government nor its "allies" appear willing to do the job themselves.

As for oil well there is always Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia in the vicinity all of whom can supply oil at the international price.