[NYTr] First Turkish Ground Incursion into Iraq overshadows Rice visit

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AFP - Dec 18, 2007
http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/071218180311.j46te4zh.html

Turkish incursion overshadows Rice visit to Iraq

ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) - Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq Tuesday
in the first ground incursion against Kurdish rebels, overshadowing a
visit to Iraq by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said the army was "doing what is
necessary in the fight against terrorism," while Rice said the United
States, Iraq and Turkey shared a "common interest" in stopping rebel
activities.

Annoyance over Washington's perceived approval of the Turkish action
created a diplomatic incident, with the president of Iraq's autonomous
Kurdish region reportedly refusing to meet Rice in Baghdad.

Iraq's Kurdish regional administration initially said 300 Turkish
soldiers advanced some three kilometres (nearly two miles) into
northern Iraq before dawn, two days after warplanes bombed several
villages along the border, targeting rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) bases.

Early Tuesday evening, the office of Kurdish regional President Massud
Barzani said the troops "have started to withdraw back into Turkish
territory."

It said around 500 Turkish soldiers entered northern Iraq and remained
in remote areas along the Iraq-Turkey border.

"There were no clashes," the statement said, referring to some media
reports that the Turkish soldiers had clashed briefly with the
peshmerga forces of the Iraqi Kurdish region.

As the reports of the incursion emerged, Rice arrived in Iraq on a
surprise visit, landing in the northern oil city of Kirkuk.

It was later reported that Barzani was refusing to meet her because of
the US position over Turkey sending soldiers into Iraq.

Barzani had warned Ankara about taking military action, saying the
"blood of the people of Kurdistan is not cheap."

He also said Washington had a "moral duty" to protect his region from
further Turkish strikes.

On Tuesday afternoon, Kurdish regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani
said "it was decided that Massud Barzani would go to Baghdad to take
part in a meeting with Condoleezza Rice and other officials, but he
will not go now as a sign of protest against the American position on
the bombings by Turkey.

"It is unacceptable that the United States, in charge of monitoring our
airspace, authorised Turkey to bomb our villages," he said.

On Sunday, Ankara's most senior general, Yasar Buyukanit, said Turkey
had received tacit US consent for the operation after Washington
provided intelligence and opened up northern Iraqi airspace.

And Rice said in Baghdad that the PKK rebels were threatening "the
stability in the north, which clearly has resulted in deaths in Turkey."

Tension between Iraq and Turkey has been high since October 21 when the
Iraq-based rebels ambushed a Turkish military patrol, killing 12
soldiers.

Since then Ankara has been threatening to launch a military incursion
to flush out PKK fighters hiding out in Iraq's mountainous north.

But lobbying by Washington and appeals by Baghdad stopped them from
staging a full-fledged incursion.

Parliament in Ankara has also given its formal approval for the Turkish
military to cross the border into northern Iraq.

The PKK has fought for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984, and
more than 37,000 people have been killed on both sides since the
conflict broke out.

Sunday's air strikes by Ankara were strongly condemned by Baghdad as a
"cruel attack" on Iraqi sovereignty.

Rice traveled to Kirkuk to back UN efforts to ease tensions among the
city's divided Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen communities in the face of
longstanding Kurdish demands for it to be incorporated into their
autonomous region.

"I look forward to talk with you about how the PRTs (provincial
reconstruction teams) are helping to bring prosperity, creating jobs
and bringing political reconciliation," Rice told elected municipal
officials.

"You have a good partner in the US and we expect to be partners for a
long time," she said, stressing the provincial council's "importance
for the future of Iraq, an Iraq that is democratic, an Iraq that can be
for all Iraqis."

Rice's visit comes a day after the Kurdish regional government agreed
to put off for six months a promised referendum on the city's future.

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution had stipulated that the
referendum be held by the end of this year.

After Kirkuk, Rice travelled on to Baghdad and held talks with senior
Iraqi politicians urging them to boost national reconciliation by
passing key legislations.

She urged them to adopt "urgent efforts to make certain that the
legislative agenda is moving forward, that there would be passage of
the budget so that the money can get to the governments, the provincial
and local governments, as well as the use of services to support the
Iraqi population."

She met President Jalal Talabani at his residence and was later
expected to meet premier Nuri al-Maliki.

Washington has been pressing for Iraqi leaders to seize the opportunity
of a fall in sectarian violence in recent months to push through
legislation aimed at reconciling the divided communities.

In the latest violence, insurgents killed at least 22 people in bomb
attacks on Tuesday, including 16 people who were slaughtered in a
suicide attack inside a cafe near the city of Baquba, north of Baghdad,
security officials and medics said.