Some 8,000 Turkish troops backed by helicopter gunships killed 20 rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the central eastern Turkish province of Tunceli yesterday, as tension continues to mount over a possible Turkish incursion into northern Iraq.
Though a stronghold of the PKK, Tunceli is more than 500km northeast of Sirnak and Hakkari, the border provinces where most of the recent fighting between Turkish forces and the Kurdish separatists occurred.
"Those who are making us suffer will suffer to an extent that they cannot even imagine," Gen Yasar Buyukanit, chief of staff of the Turkish armed forces, said yesterday. Turkey will today celebrate the 84th anniversary of the foundation of the republic by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Turkish government sources are predicting a major operation against the PKK after prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets US president George Bush in Washington on November 5th. The operation could be a joint US-Turkish undertaking, or US or Turkish forces could act alone. Turkey has amassed 100,000 troops, backed by fighter aircraft, helicopter gunships, tanks and artillery, on the border with Iraq.
Relations between Turkey and Iraq continue to deteriorate, as Turkish leaders reiterate their intention to invade northern Iraq to pursue 3,000 PKK fighters if the problem is not solved quickly. Forty Turks have been killed by the PKK in the past month. More than 30,000 have died since the PKK began its war against the state in 1984.
Talks between Turkish and Iraqi officials collapsed on Friday. Turkey is demanding that Iraq turn over PKK leaders sheltering in northern Iraq. "Turkey has shown no interest in discussing Iraqi proposals," Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari told the BBC. "They say the Iraqi government should hand over key figures of the PKK. They are not under our control. The only way to get them is to go and fight them."
Earlier, Mr Zebari told Newsweek he suspected Turkey "may have some other, ulterior motives, to disrupt the Kurdish regional administration, to cripple the infrastructure." He claimed the PKK was infiltrated by outsiders, including the Turkish military and intelligence services.
The Turkish national security council decided last week to consider economic sanctions against Iraq, which could include electricity, and exports needed for reconstruction. Iraq said it would retaliate by cutting off the Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey.
The US government dreads the prospect of a Turkish-Kurdish war and is calling for dialogue. But US and Iraqi inaction has led Turkey to turn to Washington's adversaries in Syria and Iran. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad expressed support for Turkey during a recent visit to Ankara, and Turkish foreign minister Ali Babacan met the Iranian foreign minister and president Ahmadinejad in Tehran yesterday.