Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
June 6, 2008
Pg. 11
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey and Iran have been carrying out coordinated strikes against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, a top Turkish general said Thursday. It was the first confirmation by a military official of Iranian-Turkish cooperation in the fight against the rebels.
The general, Ilker Basbug, Turkey’s land forces commander, said the two countries had been sharing intelligence and planned more coordinated attacks on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., which has bases in northern Iraq, and an Iranian Kurdish separatist movement known as Pejak.
“We are sharing intelligence with Iran, we are talking, we are coordinating,” General Basbug said at a security conference in Istanbul, CNN-Turk television reported. “When they start an operation, we do, too.”
He said no coordinated action had taken place in the past few months. “But we can do it again,” he said.
The P.K.K. has been fighting for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The main rebel camp is in the Qandil Mountains, on the Iraqi-Iranian border.
In recent months, the Turkish military has made several airstrikes on Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq. It also staged an eight-day ground offensive in February.
Iran also has shelled northern Iraq. The Iranian government says Pejak rebels also have bases in the Qandil Mountains.
In northern Iraq, a P.K.K. spokesman, Ahmad Danas, said the group knew about the contacts between Turkey and Iran. But he said the strikes had not dislodged the rebels.
June 6, 2008
Pg. 11
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey and Iran have been carrying out coordinated strikes against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, a top Turkish general said Thursday. It was the first confirmation by a military official of Iranian-Turkish cooperation in the fight against the rebels.
The general, Ilker Basbug, Turkey’s land forces commander, said the two countries had been sharing intelligence and planned more coordinated attacks on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., which has bases in northern Iraq, and an Iranian Kurdish separatist movement known as Pejak.
“We are sharing intelligence with Iran, we are talking, we are coordinating,” General Basbug said at a security conference in Istanbul, CNN-Turk television reported. “When they start an operation, we do, too.”
He said no coordinated action had taken place in the past few months. “But we can do it again,” he said.
The P.K.K. has been fighting for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The main rebel camp is in the Qandil Mountains, on the Iraqi-Iranian border.
In recent months, the Turkish military has made several airstrikes on Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq. It also staged an eight-day ground offensive in February.
Iran also has shelled northern Iraq. The Iranian government says Pejak rebels also have bases in the Qandil Mountains.
In northern Iraq, a P.K.K. spokesman, Ahmad Danas, said the group knew about the contacts between Turkey and Iran. But he said the strikes had not dislodged the rebels.