December 19th 2007 | ANKARA | From The Economist print edition

Raids across the border

AS IF Iraq did not have enough problems of its own. On December 16th Turkish aircraft bombed what they said were Kurdish rebel positions deep inside northern Iraq. It was one of the biggest cross-border air strikes in recent years and was followed by an incursion by about 300 Turkish troops. They were said to be lightly armed, and advanced only 3km (1.9 miles) into Iraq. But the two actions mark a big escalation of the traditional hostilities.

20 December 2007 | By Damien McElroy in Irbil

Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq have threatened to withdraw support from the Baghdad government if demands for federal power-sharing and a fair share of oil wealth are not met.

December 16, 2007 | By PETER SCARLET

BAHMAN GHOBADI first came to the movie world’s attention in 2000, when his “Time for Drunken Horses” won the prize for best first feature at the Cannes Film Festival. Perhaps because the film — a harrowing depiction of five orphans struggling to eke out a hardscrabble existence as smugglers in the mountainous border region between Iran and Iraq — was billed as Iranian, few took notice that the movie was not in Persian but in Kurdish. “Drunken Horses” became the first feature film in that language, a tongue banned in Iranian schools since the 1940s, to achieve an international release.

December 18, 2007

TURKEY did the wrong thing for the wrong reasons Sunday when it sent more than 50 of its air force jets to bomb sites in northern Iraq. The goal was to kill fighters of the PKK, Kurdish rebels who have been mounting guerrilla attacks in southeastern Turkey. Sunday's bombing and shelling killed at least two civilians and five PKK members, while setting Iraqi Kurdish farms and villages afire. But as a strategic move, Turkey's raid was worse than useless.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007 | By Ann Scott Tyson and Robin Wright | Washington Post Staff Writers

Intelligence Role Could Complicate Diplomacy

The United States is providing Turkey with real-time intelligence that has helped the Turkish military target a series of attacks this month against Kurdish separatists holed up in northern Iraq, including a large airstrike on Sunday, according to Pentagon officials.

 Tuesday December 18, 2007

The president of Iraq's Kurdish region is refusing to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was in Iraq Tuesday, because of the US position over Turkey sending soldiers into northern Iraq, a top Kurdish official said.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007 | By Sudarsan Raghavan and Ellen Knickmeyer

Operation Overshadows Rice Visit to Baghdad

BAGHDAD - Several hundred Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq on Tuesday and engaged in clashes with Kurdish guerrillas, Turkish military officials said, as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Iraq to tout security gains.

December 19, 2007 | By Alexandra Zavis - Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Condoleezza Rice, in Iraq for reconciliation work, urges caution after Turkey pursues rebels across the border.

BAGHDAD — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cautioned Tuesday against any action that could destabilize Iraq after Turkey sent about 300 troops across the border in pursuit of Kurdish separatist guerrillas.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

GENEVA - The U.N. refugee agency expressed concern Tuesday over the increasing number of people being driven from their homes by Turkey's shelling of northern Iraq.

18 December 2007 

The leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), who allegedly evaded military service by forging a medical document, was detained at Esenboğa Airport in Ankara upon his return to Turkey from Düsseldorf on Monday.