Turkey: Kurds have U.S. weapons

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-turkey_madhanijul12,1,3473840.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=3&cset=true

Turkey: Kurds have U.S. weapons
Envoy makes claim as troops reported along Iraq border

By Aamer Madhani
Washington Bureau
Published July 12, 2007


WASHINGTON -- Turkey's top diplomat in Washington said Wednesday that American weaponry has been found in the hands of Iraq-based Kurdish fighters captured while sneaking across the border to carry out attacks against Turkish civilians and military forces.

Ambassador Nabi Sensoy said he does not believe the United States is supplying weapons directly to fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party, a group better known as the PKK that for years has fought for an independent Kurdistan within Turkey. The American weapons, Sensoy suggested, may be coming from supplies provided by the U.S. military to the Iraqi government.


The allegation comes at a time when Iraqi officials have reported that Turkey's army is building up its forces along the two countries' shared border.

Sensoy pointed to the weaponry that has been found on PKK fighters as emblematic of the U.S. and Iraqi officials "not doing enough" to stop the PKK from staging attacks out of northern Iraq and said his government reserves the right to carry out military action to stop the guerrillas.

"People are simply saying: 'If the United States government feels itself to have the right to intervene in Iraq in order to protect itself from terrorists, Turkey should be able to protect its people and its country from the threat and actual activity from a terrorist organization,'" the ambassador said.



http://www.mrt.com.mk/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3203&Itemid=28

Turkey: threats of incursion into Iraq increase
Thursday, 12 July 2007
On April 12, the chief of Turkey's General Staff, General Yasar Buyukanit, announced that the military was ready to stage a cross-border operation into Iraq to put down Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants. The only thing holding it back was authorization from the government and parliament.
Since then, there has been a constant stream of rhetoric from military officers and opposition politicians seeming to agitate for action.
Recently, the government has also weighed in. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul confirmed that Turkey had drawn up a plan for a possible incursion into Iraq.
So has the balance tipped and can we expect Ankara to launch an assault in coming days? Not necessarily, say observers, but Gul's statement is a clear sign the government is under pressure.