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After
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned
that Ankara's patience over the presence of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq was
running out, and Turkish forces might pursue members
of the PKK in northern Iraq "if necessary", there is
concern in Europe.
Apart from Turkey, the US and the EU have also
blacklisted the PKK as a "terrorist group".
Germany's
Die
Welt urges a political solution.
"Is a Turkish invasion in Iraq imminent?" the paper
asks, noting that troops at the border have been
reinforced and there are, it says, invasion plans
for 20,000 to 40,000 soldiers.
This may be no more than "sabre-rattling" as Turkey
has long used talk of such an operation as a way of
putting pressure on the United States, the paper
says.
Turkey's threat to attack bases of the Kurdistan
Workers' Party in northern Iraq is seen as a cause
for concern by some papers. And the decision of the
Romanian prime minister to withdraw his resignation
is explained.
But, if the US is taking the issue so seriously that
Washington has warned against ill-considered
actions, then this shows "how strong the pressure
has become".
"Turkey must do something, but Ankara lacks ideas
for a solution which is not just a military one."
"Without a political approach, however, an
escalation will lead nowhere," it warns.
Die Tageszeitung, also in Germany, plays down the
possibility of a Turkish invasion.
"The main purpose of Ankara's threats is to justify
actions by the US army and/or Iraqi Kurds against
the PKK in Iraq," the paper believes.
"It is clear that in the long term the Iraqi Kurds
will not be able to tolerate cross-border attacks
perpetrated from their territory either, simply
because they need Turkey to build a stable northern
Iraq."
www.bbc.co.uk
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