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Turkey defends right to attack Iraq

The Turkish justice minister insisted yesterday on Turkey's right to stage a possible attack against Kurdish rebel hideouts across the border in Iraq, rebuffing US calls for restraint.

Parliament on Wednesday authorized the government to send troops into northern Iraq to root out Kurdish rebels who are said to have been conducting raids into Turkey. The vote removed the last legal obstacle to an offensive, but there was no immediate plans to stage a cross-border attack.

US President George W. Bush said the US was making clear to Turkey that it should not stage a major military operation in the Iraqi north, much of which has escaped the sustained violence and political discord common in the rest of Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Turkish Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin rebuffed Bush's remarks, defending Turkey's right to pursue Kurdish rebels beyond its borders.

"Those who criticize us on the parliamentary motion should explain what they are doing in Afghanistan," Sahin said in response to a question about Bush's remarks. "Turkey is implementing the same international rules that were implemented by those who linked the attacks on the twin towers to some organizations in Afghanistan and sent troops to Afghanistan based on those rights."

"That's why no one has the right to say anything," Sahin said, adding that Turkey was an independent country and would make its own decisions.

The parliamentary authorization was good for one year and Turkish leaders said they did not have plans for immediate orders to send tens of thousands of soldiers, armor and attack helicopters into Iraq.

The crisis along the border has driven tensions between Turkey and its longtime NATO ally, the US.

Bush said Turkey has had troops stationed in northern Iraq "for quite a while," a reference to about 1,500 soldiers deployed for years to monitor the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) with the permission of Iraqi Kurd authorities.

"We don't think it's in their interest to send more troops in," he said.

Turkey's leaders appeared to be holding back on launching an incursion in hopes that the just threat of one will prod Iraq and the US to move against the PKK guerrillas.

The Turkish military had little success when it last carried out a major incursion into Iraq, sending 50,000 soldiers a decade ago.

On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan traveled to Egypt and Lebanon to explain its position to its Arab neighbors.

Bush urged the Democratic-controlled US Congress not to worsen tensions with Turkey by approving a resolution labeling as genocide the World War I-era killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Turks.

Turkey -- which argues the deaths came during civil unrest and not from a planned campaign to eradicate Armenians -- is furious over the measure and has threatened repercussions if it is adopted.

Also see: Support for `genocide' bill flagging

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