Fears are sweeping Northern Iraq that a weekend invasion by Turkish paratroopers could turn Kurdish fighters on their historical enemies from the north and spark a war within a war, writes Lynne O'Donnell
As Turkey's army defied warnings from Washington not to make any unilateral move into Iraqi territory, and sent paratroopers flopping into the craggy valleys of the Cudi Mountains that trace the border between the two countries, Kurds turned their attention away from Saddam Hussein and focused on the latest enemy - though one of the oldest - in their long struggle for freedom.
Turkey's Prime Minister, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, confirmed last night that the army would be deployed in the border region but left unclear to what extent troops would be actually inside Iraq.
"The military arrangements that we have made in a limited belt along the border aim at stopping a possible influx of refugees . . . and prevent certain threats to our security," Mr Erdogan said in a TV address.
"The presence of Turkish soldiers in that region will be a source of security and stability for Turkey and the region," he said.
Mr Erdogan said that protecting the territorial integrity of Iraq was essential and that "Turkey and the United States have reached agreement on all questions".
Earlier reports that Turkish troops entered Iraq at the weekend were strongly denied. With the fate of President Saddam Hussein, the dictator who has tried to bomb, gas, murder and starve the Kurds out of Iraq, in the hands of the allied invasion, Kurdish leaders issued warnings in response to the reports that a Turkish presence on their lands would be resisted with force.
In what has the potential to become one of the most volatile developments in Iraq as the fate of the country unfolds, Kurdish groups in control of the protected zone of northern Iraq that stretches to the northern border with Turkey are moving their militiamen into place to contain the Turkish presence.
The warlord, Mr Massoud Barzani, who heads the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of the eastern sector of the region, hinted his peshmerga militia force, which numbers up to 35,000, would not hesitate to fire on Turkish troops. "If the Turkish army crosses the border, there will be much suffering."
In the hours following the Turkish parliament's decision on Friday to send troops into northern Iraq, peshmerga commanders and militiamen, guarding the front lines opposite the defensive positions of President Saddam's forces, refused to make any comment on their defensive plans. Privately, peshmerga said they were ready to fight and only awaited orders to fire.
"Peshmerga forces are on the border, ready to meet the Turks. If the Turkish army comes into Kurdistan without the orders of the Americans, the peshmerga are ready to take action against them," said Mr Nuraddin Abdullah (34), who comes from a family of Kurdish fighting men.
"If they really cared about the fate of the Kurds and wanted to save us from Saddam, they would care for the Kurds living in Turkey. But they don't.
"It is a dictatorial government that does not allow Kurds even to use their own language even though it is obliged to by law," Mr Nuraddin said. "If the Turks come in and force us to fight them, it is another victory for Saddam, as his enemies turn on each other instead of on him."
The prospect of Turkish military intervention into traditional Kurdish territory has galvanised the population of northern Iraq, which has enjoyed self-rule with British and American protection and massive injections of international aid since the end of the first Gulf War.
Turkey has, according to government sources in Ankara, been increasing its permanent military presence in northern Iraq of around 5,000 troops since late last year. There are estimated to by around 7,000 Turkish soldiers on the ground in northern Iraq, most of them within 15 km of the border.
A separate force of Turks, called the Peace Monitoring Force, has been based in Irbil since 1998 when the civil war between the two major Kurdish groups, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan ended with the Washington Accord that aimed to bring the two organisations together to govern the region.
The treaty is still to be implemented, justifying the ongoing presence of the PMF.
Ankara insists that its intention in increasing its military presence in northern Iraq is for "security and humanitarian" reasons, to ensure there is no flow of refugees over the border into its impoverished south-eastern provinces, which it can ill afford.
But Turkey's real concern, say diplomats and analysts, is that Kurds are hiding behind their public support for autonomy within a democratic Iraqi federation, and could use the chaos of the war to press for independence.
Such claims for a Kurdistani state could, the Turks fear, spill over their border and foment unrest among their own 12 million Kurds.
The suspicion is mutual and at the heart of the common distrust are defining issues of ethnic identity and territorial integrity. The traditional lands of the Kurds take in territory now in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Each of these neighbours shares Turkey's fears of Kurdish independence claims.