Monday, October 22, 2007

The Turkish government is weighing calls for action against international pressure for restraint, after Kurdish separatist fighters killed 17 Turkish soldiers and captured several more.

October 21, 2007 | Martin Fletcher and Suna Erdem

Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells The Times that he needs nobody’s permission to defend his country

October 19, 2007

A DANGEROUS dynamic was set in motion Wednesday with the vote of Turkey's Parliament to authorize a military operation in the Kurdish region of Iraq against the guerrilla band of Turkish Kurds known as the PKK.

October 19, 2007 | By Sharon Behn

Kurdish leaders said yesterday the United States is obliged by a U.N. resolution to defend them in the event that Turkish forces invade northern Iraq in pursuit of members of a Kurdish rebel movement.

October 19, 2007 | By ALISSA J. RUBIN

BAGHDAD, Oct. 18 — Turkey’s decision to allow the dispatch of troops over Iraq’s border in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas throws into relief a troubling quandary for Iraq’s leaders.

October 19, 2007 | BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun

WASHINGTON — Turkey is backing down from its threats to launch an incursion into northern Iraq after intense diplomatic pressure from America and other Western countries.

October 19, 2007 | ERCAN YAVUZ  ANKARA 


Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek in clear terms dismissed charges that the government is reluctant to use a parliamentary authorization for incursion into northern Iraq to hit bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) there, pledging that the decision will be followed by deeds.
 

Thursday, October 18, 2007 | The Associated Press

IRBIL, Iraq: Thousands of Kurds and supporters took to the streets in northern Iraq Thursday to protest the Turkish parliament's decision to authorize the government to send troops across the border to root out Kurdish rebels who have been conducting raids into Turkey.

October 18, 2007 | BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun

WASHINGTON — American diplomats are working to secure assurances that yesterday's overwhelming vote in the Turkish parliament to authorize cross-border raids into northern Iraq is purely symbolic and that the Turkish military will not enter the mountainous Kurdish region of Iraq.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 | By Sebnem Arsu and Sabrina Tavernise

ISTANBUL: Turkey's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to authorize sending troops into northern Iraq to confront Kurdish rebels in hideouts there, sending an angry message to the Baghdad government and its Washington sponsors. But the NATO country made clear it would not act unless it had to.