Monday, March 3, 2008 | By David Romano
After only eight days, Turkey abruptly ended its military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday February 29. The withdrawal of Turkish troops caught many observers, as well as the Turkish public, by surprise.
1 march 2008
Erbil, Kurdistan Region - Iraq (KRG.org) - A bipartisan delegation of six US Congressmen has completed a visit to Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region, as part of a fact-finding tour of Iraq.
28 february 2008
Erbil, Kurdistan - Iraq (KRG.org) – Mrs Margaret Huber, the Canadian Ambassador to Iraq, this week for the first time visited the Kurdistan Region to identify public and private sector opportunities for cooperation.
Friday, 29 February 2008
The Turkish military says it has withdrawn its troops from northern Iraq, following a controversial ground offensive against Kurdish rebels.
Friday, February 29, 2008 | Mehmet Ali Birand
Pandora's box has been opened. The creatures that had been kept there for many years have flown out and scattered. They are impossible to catch and return to the box now.
February 28, 2008 | By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and MARK MAZZETTI
BAGHDAD —" Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urged Turkish leaders on Wednesday to abandon their invasion of guerrilla-controlled lands in the northernmost reaches of Iraq by mid-March.
Thursday, February 28, 2008 | By Ellen Knickmeyer | Washington Post Foreign Service
Did Incursion Just Happen to Coincide With Easing of Ban on Head Scarves?
ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 27 -- Turkey's military offensive in northern Iraq has clear objectives: attack Kurdish separatist guerrillas in their mountain bases, destroy their camps and weapons caches, and show them they can be pursued anywhere, anytime.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 | By LOLITA C. BALDOR | The Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that Turkey should remove its troops from northern Iraq in the next few days, sending a strong message that U.S. patience is running out on the operation targeting Kurdish insurgents.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 | Cengiz ÇANDAR
Militarily speaking, the difference between launching a 'security operation' and becoming an 'occupying force' is as thin as a stick
February 26, 2008 | By Aliza Marcus and Andrew Apostolou
ALIZA MARCUS AND ANDREW APOSTOLOU
THE CRISIS between Turkey and Iraq, with the United States playing the uneasy role of mediator and friend to both, has escalated with the Turkish land operation launched Feb. 22. Following last fall's spate of attacks inside Turkey by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, the Bush administration gave Turkey intelligence to facilitate air strikes against key PKK bases in remote Iraqi Kurdish mountains. Washington hoped this would prevent any Turkish military offensive inside Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq's most stable region and the PKK's unwilling host. This policy has clearly failed.
