[NYTr] Kurds, Iraqi Parliament Condemn Turkish Airstrikes on N. Iraq

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AFP via Google - Dec 17, 2007
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iu3ns8tYpXrhBj9KlSaa-gtPwqzA

Iraq parliament condemns 'cruel' Turkish air strikes

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq strongly condemned Monday Turkish air strikes on
Kurdish rebel bases in its northern territory, branding them a "cruel
attack" on Iraqi sovereignty that claimed innocent lives.

Amid expressions of concern from the European Union, the Turkish
military denied there were any civilian casualties, while the
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) vowed retaliation against
Turkish targets.

"We strongly condemn this cruel attack on Iraqi sovereignty and on the
principle of friendly neighbourhood," the Iraqi parliament said in a
statement that spoke of "several innocent civilian casualties".

Sunday's raids saw Turkish warplanes bomb a number of villages in
northern Iraq, targeting rear-bases of the PKK, which said seven people
were killed, including two civilians.

"Our people have every right to defend themselves and to retaliate,"
the rebel group said in a statement carried by the Firat news agency,
considered to be a PKK mouthpiece.

"This right is sacred and our people will do what is required," the
statement said.

Locals said schools and bridges were also destroyed in the foothills of
the Qandil mountains along the border.

"We all were asleep when the warplanes struck our village," said Hassan
Ibrahim, 75, a farmer from the village of Qalatuqa along the
Iraq-Turkey border.

"When the attack came I got out of the house. We were all suffocating
because of the dust."

He said Turkish warplanes had been overflying the region for the past
month.

"Earlier it was Saddam who destroyed our homes, now it is the Turks,"
an angry Ibrahim told AFP as he prepared to leave his home.

Witnesses said the bombings had razed dozens of buildings in Qalatuqa,
including a soon-to-be-opened school building.

Asaka Abdullah, 40, said she woke up shocked with the noise of the
bombings.

"I was asleep when the sound of the explosion woke me up. When I
stepped out of my house I saw people fleeing barefoot," she said.

"We really have no choice but to flee to the mountains to escape the
bombs."

In Baghdad, the parliament demanded that Ankara exercise military
restraint and focus on dialogue to solve the PKK problem.

The PKK has been fighting for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since
1984. More than 37,000 people have died on both sides of the conflict.

Turkey has threatened a full-scale incursion against PKK bases in
northern Iraq unless Baghdad and the United States make greater efforts
to curb the rebels' cross-border operations.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari condemned the Turkish air strikes.

"We understand Turkish concerns over the presence of PKK, but yesterday
there was some collateral damages to civilians... Such action must be
coordinated with the Iraqi government," said Zebari, who did not give
casualty figures.

The European Union also expressed concern in a statement issued by
Portugal, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"The presidency calls on the Turkish authorities to exercise restraint,
to respect the territorial integrity of Iraq and refrain from taking
any military action that could undermine regional peace and stability,"
it said.

On Sunday, Ankara's most senior general Yasar Buyukanit said Turkey had
received tacit US consent for the operation by providing "intelligence"
and opening up northern Iraqi airspace.

The US State Department declined to confirm or deny what help might
have been given, saying only that the strikes were "in keeping with"
past air raids in northern Iraq.

"That said, we want to make sure that the actions that are taken are
done in an appropriate way, that hit only those targets that are PKK
and avoid civilian casualties," said State Department spokesman Tom
Casey.

                                 ***

Reuters - Dec 17, 2007
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N17404581.htm

U.S. Pentagon giving Turkey intelligence on PKK

By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The United States has given Turkey
intelligence to track Kurdish fighters hiding in Iraq, a Pentagon
spokesman said on Monday, but he would not say whether Washington gave
Ankara precise targets used in weekend raids.

U.S. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman also would not say
whether the United States gave Turkey prior approval to use Iraqi air
space to conduct the strikes.

"The United States continues to assist with information to the Turkish
government that will help them deal with the insurgent situation that
they have up there," Whitman said.

The Pentagon had said it was helping Turkey gain the "actionable"
intelligence needed for a strike against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
militants. Actionable intelligence refers to information that can be
acted upon, such as data that pinpoints the location of a target for a
military strike.

Asked specifically whether the United States gave Turkey targets used
in weekend raids, Whitman said he would not "get into details like
that."

He said the Pentagon was providing information that would be "helpful
in dealing with this insurgent terrorist threat."

When told by reporters that his answer implied the Pentagon had indeed
provided such "actionable intelligence," Whitman said, "That's probably
OK."

Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since it
began an armed struggle for a separate Kurdish homeland in 1984. It
says some 3,000 PKK fighters are based in camps in northern Iraq.

A three-hour offensive over the weekend, reported to involve some 50
fighter jets, also included ground forces shelling suspected PKK
positions in northern Iraq.

Iraq summoned the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad to protest the bombing.

The State Department too would not say whether the United States gave
Turkey a green light for the strikes.

"We face a common enemy -- Turkey, the United States and Iraq -- from
the PKK. It's a terrorist organization and we certainly want to see
actions taken to put it out of business," said State Department deputy
spokesman Tom Casey.

"We also want to make sure that whatever is done is coordinated to the
extent possible between Turkey and Iraq." (Reporting by Kristin Roberts
and Paul Eckert, Editing by David Wiessler) 


                                 ***

Informed Comment - Dec 17, 2007
http://www.juancole.com/2007/12/iraqi-parliament-condemns-turkey-turkey.html

Iraqi Parliament Condemns Turkey

Turkey say US Authorized Air Strikes on PKK

The Iraqi parliament on Monday condemned Turkish air strikes on what it
said were bases of the Kurdish Workers Party inside Iraqi territory.
The parliament decried what it called a "cruel" violation of Iraqi
"sovereignty." Over two dozen Turkish troops have been killed in recent
months by PKK guerrillas, who Ankara says are based in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Turkish chief of staff Yasar Buyukanit said that the United States gave
tacit approval of the strikes by providing Turkey with intelligence on
PKK movements. The US responded by saying that it had prior knowledge
of the attack but did not authorize it.

The US certainly would be decried in Iraq if it were thought that
Washington connived with Turkey at an air strike on Iraqi soil. On the
other hand, the US would suffer opprobrium in Turkey if it were seen as
doing nothing about a terror threat to Turkey enjoying safe haven in an
American-occupied country. Probably both sides will end up hating the
US about all this.

The problems with the dual authority being established in Sunni Arab
areas-- with tribal Awakening Councils appointing themselves as, often,
vigilantes-- became apparent on Monday when a firefight broke out in
Bayji between Awakening members and local official police. There really
need to be new provincial elections in Iraq so that if any Awakening
members are actually popular, they can gain legitimacy at the polls.

                               ***
Sydney Morning Herald - Dec 17, 2007
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/turkish-planes-pound-kurdish-villages-in-iraq/2007/12/17/1197740183691.html

Turkish planes pound Kurdish villages in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Turkish warplanes pounded Kurdish villages deep inside
northern Iraq, killing one woman and forcing hundreds of villagers to
flee their homes, in the largest aerial assault by Turkey this year,
Iraqi officials said.

The early morning attack, which Turkish officials say was backed by the
US, renewed concerns of a new front opening in the Iraq war. An
American spokesman in Ankara said the US had only been informed that
the strikes would happen.

Warplanes struck mountain hide-outs of the rebel Kurdistan Workers
Party, or PKK, the military said on its website. The PKK is fighting
for Kurdish autonomy and rights in Turkey.

And while Turkish military officials denied the planes had targeted
civilians, Iraqi officials and civilians described the attack as
intense and largely targeting villages in the Qandil Mountains, which
straddle the Iran-Iraq border and the area where the PKK is based.

Shelling had followed the air strikes, they said. The attack "was so
heavy and started at 1am on Sunday and targeted villages and small
bridges connecting them", said Pula Saleem, 45, of Sidekan village.

He gathered his wife and five children and fled. "Most of the people
left the village," he said.

In nearby Lawzi village, Farhad Hussein, 38, also left with his family.
The attacks "set fire in many farms and destroyed many houses in my
village", he said.

Turkish television reported that as many as 50 fighter jets had taken
part in the operation.

Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, praised the attack and
indicated that more would follow.  -The Washington Post