Turkish tanks ready to roll into Iraq

Turkey was preparing to send troops and tanks into northern Iraq on Oct. 10 as the government came under intense pressure to avenge the deaths of Turkish soldiers in attacks by Kurdish rebels. Risking a major diplomatic problem with Washington and the European Union, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, said that he had ordered preparations for a possible military strike and might seek parliament's approval soon. Turkish combat aircraft and helicopter gunships attacked suspected Kurdish rebel positions near Iraq and police detained 20 Kurds with suspected rebel links at a border crossing. A Turkish policeman was killed and seven people wounded when a police vehicle was the target of a bomb attack in the southeast of the country. The frenzied activity came only days after the killing of 13 government troops in an ambush that outraged the country and marked the latest in a spate of intensified attacks by the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). At a meeting on the attacks this week, chaired by Erdogan, senior Turkish civilian and military authorities decided to consider "every kind of legal, political and economic measure, including an incursion across the border." Parliament would still have to authorize any military action and the final decision rests with the Government. The weekend ambush and the killing of another two soldiers in a separate attack have ignited the fuse of nationalistic anger in Turkey. Turkey has repeatedly threatened an incursion to eradicate the PKK's northern Iraqi bases unless the United States and Iraqi authorities clamp down first. Until now, though, Erdogan has appeared reluctant to pursue an act that could result in a military quagmire and cause serious diplomatic problems. The authorities in Washington and Iraq, already struggling to control insurgent violence, are unwilling to condone anything that could cause unrest in the country's most stable region. Turkey would also probably prefer to do without the complication of a military operation while it is seeking to kick start membership talks with the European Union. The public outrage has become intense. News of the latest attacks was imparted on blackened front pages, while the funerals for the soldiers were spread across several pages, which showed a collage of coffins draped with red flags, tearful mothers, and angry mourners clenching their fists. "The day we say goodbye to our martyrs the Government has given the military a blank check for a cross-border operation," wrote Hurriyet, the mass-selling daily newspaper, above the pictures. As talk of the operation increased, the Turkish stock market, afraid of the consequences of military action, abruptly stopped in its tracks after reaching record highs last week. A few lone voices called for calm: "Yes, our hearts are bursting with sorrow, but cool-headed leaders should prevent Turkey from falling into a terrorist trap," said the veteran columnist Hasan Cemal, urging a combination of military action and political reforms to tackle terrorism. "Above all, we should stay away from going into northern Iraq." The PKK has been fighting for more than 20 years in southeast Turkey in a war that has claimed nearly 40,000 lives. Large-scale incursions by Turkey into northern Iraq in 1995 and 1997, involving an estimated 35,000 and 50,000 troops respectively, failed to dislodge the rebels. The US-led invasion of Iraq appeared to give the PKK fresh impetus. Encouraged by the greater autonomy granted to Kurds in northern Iraq, and benefiting from the free flow of weapons across Iraq, the PKK has prospered despite being classified as a terrorist organization by the US and the EU. Turkish security officials say that many weapons used in recent attacks, including materials for a suicide bomb, were acquired in Iraq. Turkey knows that it does not have its NATO ally, the US, on its side for any action and Erdogan is widely believed to have failed once more in his attempt to change the mind of President Bush during his recent trip across the Atlantic. As renewed talk of an incursion surfaced Sean McCormack, the US State Department spokesman, said that this would not lead to a long-term, durable solution and called for Turkish cooperation with the authorities in Iraq. Ankara may not, however, shy away from the idea of upsetting the United States at a time when the House of Representatives is preparing to pass a resolution blaming Ottoman Turkey for genocide against ethnic Armenians during the First World War. Champions of the resolution have in the past failed to make it law but its regular appearance on the agenda always gives rise to back-room panic, horse-trading and ill feeling between Ankara and Washington. President Gül has said that the passage of the Bill would create a public backlash in Turkey. Despite that and a similar warning from President Bush, the draft resolution was adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee and is now heading for a vote in the House.