Turkey says it won’t target Iraqi Kurds
ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkey said Thursday that it isn’t seeking a confrontation with Iraqi Kurds by threatening a cross-border offensive in northern Iraq, saying any attack would target only the bases of Turkish Kurd guerrillas.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected to arrive in Ankara, the capital, today as part of an intense campaign to prevent Turkey from sending troops into northern Iraq. The United States thinks such an operation could trigger a wider conflict with another U.S. ally, the Iraqi Kurds.
Many Turks are furious over what they believe is Washington’s failure to pressure Iraq into cracking down on the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which seeks more rights and autonomy for Turkish Kurds. Street protesters have urged the government to send troops across the border even if it means deepening the rift with the United States, their Cold War-era ally.
On Wednesday, about 100 people gathered at a park in Ankara to protest Rice’s visit, some throwing darts at a photograph of her. They held English-language placards that read: “Terrorist Rice, take your bloody hands from Turkey” and “Go home Rice.”
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said if the army crosses the border, it will try to avoid confronting the self-governing Kurdish leadership of northern Iraq. Turkish leaders suspect, however, that the Kurdish administration is assisting the PKK, or at least tolerating its presence at a network of mountain camps.
“Any cross-border attack would be aimed at hitting terrorist bases and would not be an invasion,” Babacan said.
“We have doubts about the sincerity of the administration in northern Iraq in the struggle against the terrorist organization,” he said. “We want to see solid steps.”
The invasion reference recalled the U.S.-led attack on Iraq in 2003, a source of tension between Washington and Turkey, which refused to allow U.S. troops to cross its territory into Iraq.
Turkey also has been troubled by the increasingly emboldened Iraqi Kurds after Saddam Hussein’s ouster, fearing their success would incite separatism in its own Kurd minority.
Iraqi Kurds have warned Turkey against a cross-border offensive, saying they will defend their territory against any incursion and suggesting Turkey’s real goal is to disrupt their virtual ministate.