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Turkish army claims right to pursue rebels
in Kurdistan-Iraq
2.5.2006
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ANKARA, May 2,
2006 (AFP) , - The Turkish army said Tuesday it
reserves the right to venture into neighboring
Kurdistan-Iraq to pursue separatist Kurdish rebels
based there, but denied reports that such operations
were already under way.
"All our activities... are taking place within our
borders," General Bekir Kalyoncu, head of operations
at the general staff, told a group of journalists,
the Anatolia news agency reported.
"If the conditions (for a cross-border operation)
arise, Turkey will use its rights as any sovereign
country," he said. "Those conditions are outlined in
the UN Charter."
Turkey has amassed thousands of troops along the
border with Iraq for what officials describe as a
large-scale effort to prevent increasing
infiltrations by rebels from the separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), based in mountainous
hideouts in northern Iraq.
The general staff said it had intelligence that the
PKK was planning to step up violence this year and
"create a climate of chaos in the country."
The army has repeatedly said that Article 51 of the
UN Charter provides for the right of "hot pursuit"
against the PKK on Iraqi territory.
The article acknowledges the right of self-defense
if an armed attack occurs against a member nation.
Ankara has long urged Washington and Baghdad to root
out the PKK from northern Iraq, but it has been told
that violence in other parts of the conflict-torn
country is their priority.
The PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey,
the European Union and the United States, has been
fighting the government since 1984 when it took up
arms for Kurdish self-rule in adjoining southeast
Turkey.
"The movement of the terrorists has become easier
because no forces of the Iraqi government are
present on the other side of border to ensure
control," Kalyoncu said, referring to northern Iraq,
which is administered by the Iraqi Kurds.
The PKK has markedly stepped up violence this year.
At least 20 members of the security forces have been
killed in clashes and landmine attacks blamed on the
rebels, while the PKK has lost at least 53 people.
Kurdish militants have also claimed eight bomb
attacks in urban centers, which killed four people
and left 95 injured.
The Turkish army conducted incursions into northern
Iraq before the 2003 US-led invasion, with the
support of local Iraqi Kurds.
But relations between Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds
have cooled since the invasion. Washington also
opposes cross-border operations on the grounds they
could further complicate the troubled security
situation in Iraq.
Turkey already has about 1,500 troops on Iraqi
territory, stationed along the border since a
major-cross border operation in 1997.
Kalyoncu said the soldiers were responsible for
border security and were not involved in any
"operational" activities, vowing they would remain
there "as long as the terrorist organization remains
in the area," Anatolia reported.
"Regardless of where they are harbored, terrorist
organizations sooner or later inflict harm on that
region," he said. "We believe the Iraqi authorities
are also aware of that and that's why we have not
encountered any major problem so far regarding those
troops."
On Sunday, Baghdad accused Iranian forces of
entering five kilometers (three miles) into Iraq and
shelling PKK positions.
For around a year, Iran, which has its own Kurdish
minority, has been battling infiltrations by Pejak,
a Kurdish group linked to the PKK.
The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than
37,000 lives since the PKK launched its separatist
campaign in 1984.
AFP
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