Monday, July 23, 2007
PKK leader readies troops as he believes Turkey will attack
Regional
(AP) -- The commander of Iraq-based Kurdish rebels said he believed Turkey will quickly follow its parliamentary elections Sunday with a long-anticipated offensive against his remote mountain bases. Murat Karayilan, the leader of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, warned that his fighters were prepared for battle, but denied Ankara's charges that his group was using Iraqi soil to launch attacks against Turkish forces across the border.
"The date of the Turkish offensive has drawn near," Karayilan told The Associated Press in an interview Friday at his base in the remote northern Iraqi village of Lewzhe. "We are ready to confront it and to defend ourselves. The Turkish army cannot move with ease in this mountainous terrain." Turkey has been fighting PKK rebels since 1984 in a war that has killed tens of thousands.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party won a new mandate Sunday, has threatened to stage an incursion into northern Iraq if post-election talks with Iraq and the United States fail to produce effective measures against the Kurdish guerrillas. Erdogan told jubilant supporters in a victory speech in Ankara that: "In our struggle against separatist terrorists, we are determined to take every step at the right time."
Opposition parties have criticized his ruling party for not showing determination to stage an incursion, a move that could seriously strain ties with Iraq and Turkey's NATO ally, the United States. The United States, facing problems elsewhere in Iraq, opposes such a move, but Turkey, frustrated by escalating rebel violence, says Washington has reneged on promises to help it fight terrorism.
Karayilan said that the autonomous Kurdish government in Iraq was not supporting his group. He described his group's bases in northern Iraq as primarily political indoctrination centers. An AP reporter, however, saw PKK guerrillas training on the use of light arms and doing endurance drills in full combat gear as he made his way to Lewzhe.
"The date of the Turkish offensive has drawn near," Karayilan told The Associated Press in an interview Friday at his base in the remote northern Iraqi village of Lewzhe. "We are ready to confront it and to defend ourselves. The Turkish army cannot move with ease in this mountainous terrain." Turkey has been fighting PKK rebels since 1984 in a war that has killed tens of thousands.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party won a new mandate Sunday, has threatened to stage an incursion into northern Iraq if post-election talks with Iraq and the United States fail to produce effective measures against the Kurdish guerrillas. Erdogan told jubilant supporters in a victory speech in Ankara that: "In our struggle against separatist terrorists, we are determined to take every step at the right time."
Opposition parties have criticized his ruling party for not showing determination to stage an incursion, a move that could seriously strain ties with Iraq and Turkey's NATO ally, the United States. The United States, facing problems elsewhere in Iraq, opposes such a move, but Turkey, frustrated by escalating rebel violence, says Washington has reneged on promises to help it fight terrorism.
Karayilan said that the autonomous Kurdish government in Iraq was not supporting his group. He described his group's bases in northern Iraq as primarily political indoctrination centers. An AP reporter, however, saw PKK guerrillas training on the use of light arms and doing endurance drills in full combat gear as he made his way to Lewzhe.
Labels: Lewzhe, Murat Karayilan, northern Iraq, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey
