Iraq Kurds warn Turkey over raids

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

The president of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq has warned Turkey to halt its strikes against rebel Kurdish positions in the border area.

Massoud Barzani said he "vehemently condemned" the bombardments, which he said had killed innocent people.
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In a telephone conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, US President George W Bush reiterated his backing for Turkey's operations against PKK rebels, said a White House spokesman.
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For decades, it <the PKK> has been fighting for a Kurdish homeland separate from Turkey.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7159529.stm

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They were not declared to be a terrorist organisation prior to the invasion of Iraq.

[acmavm]

1. I don't see any about a warning in this article. A 'complaint' was lodged.

<snip>

President Talabani - also a Kurd - was standing beside Mr Barzani as he delivered the condemnation.

He said his government had lodged a formal complaint with Turkey - but that he did not want to worsen tensions over the issue.

Turkey's ambassador to Iraq has been summoned to the foreign ministry to hear a formal complaint, reports the BBC's Humphrey Hawkesley in Baghdad.

Up to 10 people are reported to have been killed in the strikes - it is not known whether they are rebels or civilians.

As many as 2,000 people have fled the areas under attack.

[nealmhughes]

2. You know, I am really torn over Turkey's legitimate security concerns and civilian casualities from

both sides (Kurdish and Turkish).
It seems that the history of using the Kurds as a counter balance or mere thorn in the side of Iran/Iraq/Turkey all stem from the ability of one power to provide weapons and funds to the PKK.
For example, it is alledged that while now supporting Turkey, the US had been providing much more than material aid to the Kurds in Iran up to as recently as last year!
Greece has had a habit of supporting the PKK, merely to get Turkey's goat, although now that potential oil in the Aegean now trumps mere ethnic minorities.
I am rather reminded of the way that Montenegro played off Austria, Italy, Germany, France and Britain before the First World War, getting "aid" from each of them in exchange to tweek the cheek of one or more of their rivals in the area.
If any issue in the Mideast not related to Palestine needs UN mediation, and serious delegates with concessions on both sides, this one is it! Actually, the entire region post-Bushzeit will need some very serious consideration, as well as getting the lights back on 24 hours a day, people back to work and school and the exiles back home, and a government that is functional in all areas, and not just for a sectarian pure village or Kurdistan here and there.
What if French Canadian separatists were coming over the border from Quebec or New Brunswick to attack anglophone installations in Maine? How would the US react if Canada were disfunctional? But does that give the Maine National Guard or US Army the right to bomb Montreal for revanche?
Too freaking complicated, by far. I wonder why Wilson didn't address this one at Versailles?

[comradebillyboy]

3. the Kurds can protest

but the Turks are pretty fed up with PKK terrorists and the Turkish government has overwhelming popular support in its anti-PKK campaign. So long as the Turks don't kill off to many innocent civilians neither the EU nor the US will interfere. Turkey has the second most powerful and well trained military in NATO, behind the US. The Turks have about 100,000 soldiers on the border with Iraq and if the Peshmerga tries to intervene the Turkish army and Air Force will mop up the floor with them.